The Moriarty Pintos picked up their biggest win of the season Feb. 3 against the visiting Pojoaque Valley Elks. Moriarty’s Jordan Brown sank four 3-point baskets in the first half of the contest and added another one early in the fourth quarter.
But it was Brown’s sixth 3-pointer with just over a minute left in the game that lifted the Pintos to a 51-48 victory.
“I felt my shooting was pretty good tonight,” Brown said after the game. “But I knew I had to hit that last one and I just had the confidence to make it.”
The win ended Moriarty’s recent three-game losing skid and gave the Pintos their first district victory of the season. It was also the inaugural district win for first-year head coach Caleb Encinias.
“Yeah, it’s huge,” Encinias said.
The game started with the Pintos firing on all cylinders. Twenty seconds after the opening tipoff, Aidyn Pacheco stormed the lane and sank a one-handed jumper. Brown followed with his first 3-pointer. A minute later Pacheco added a 3. The two players continued sinking 3-pointers like they were tossing coins into a fountain. After an 8-0 run, Moriarty was sitting on a 19-12 cushion by the end of the first stanza.
“We knew we had to put it on them right away because they’re a tough team,” Brown said. “We just came out and gave it all we got.”
Brown added another 3-pointer early in the second quarter to put the Pintos up by 12. Pojoaque battled back, trimming Moriarty’s lead to three points late in the period. Isaiah Quintana powered his way into the paint for a driving layup with 20 seconds left in the quarter to put the Pintos up 29-24 at halftime.
“I came into this game thinking that I gotta produce, so I definitely was a lot more aggressive today,” Quintana said.
“Isaiah Quintana was huge, he was all over the place,” Encinias added. “Isaiah made plays that do not show up on the stat sheet.”
Moriarty pushed its lead to 10 points early in the third quarter, but Pojoaque managed to hang around and cut the margin to five at the end of the period.
“In our district we have some of the scrappiest teams in the state and no lead is safe,” Encinias said.
That proved to be the case in the fourth quarter.
Moriarty held the lead for more than 25 minutes going back to the first quarter, but Pojoaque tied the score 47-47 with 2:40 remaining in the game, and then forged ahead 48-47 on a free throw with 1:46 left.
Thirty seconds later, Pacheco tossed a pass to Brown in the left corner. Brown launched it up and watched it plunge through the net.
Jahkeem Graham added a free throw to top off Moriarty’s scoring.
Brown scored a game-high 17 points. Pacheco added 11 points. Quintana chipped in 7.
“It’s a huge win,” Encinias said. “It shows us that we can win a game against a top-tier team.”