By Deshaun Garduno
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — The 2026 New Mexico basketball state championships tipped off March 6 with action from teams all over the state. Las Cruces saw eight of their hometown teams make the tournament, five on the boys’ side and three on the girls’ side.
Those teams included the boys from Mesilla Valley Christian and Organ Mountain, and both the boys’ and girls’ teams from Las Cruces High, Centennial High, and Mayfield High.
With the eight teams that made the tournament, five were at home for their first-round matchup. In Class 2A, Mesilla Valley Christian School was at home, and both the Las Cruces and Centennial High boys and girls teams hosted games in Class 5A.
Of those eight teams that made it, only two are heading to Albuquerque for their second-round matchups, and they are both on the boys’ side: Mesilla Valley Christian School and Las Cruces High.
All three girls’ teams fell short March 6 as seventh-seed Centennial lost to the 10th-seed and visiting Volcano Vista, 45-36. The same can be said for eighth-seeded Las Cruces, which hosted the ninth-seeded La Cueva and lost 56-36 to end their season. 11th-seed Mayfield rounds out the local girls’ teams in the tournament. They traveled north to face sixth-seed Los Lunas, where they came up short, losing 63-33.
On Saturday, March 7, all five of the Las Cruces boys’ teams were in action. Starting in class 2A, fifth-seeded Mesilla Valley Christian outlasted the 12th-seed Dulce 61-42. In Class 5A, seventh-seeded Centennial hosted 10th-seeded Carlsbad and came up just short in a 52-47 upset loss. The last home game for the local teams was held at the home of the eighth-seed Las Cruces Bulldawgs, where they beat the nine-seed Albuquerque High 61-45. The other two schools played on the road, 12th-seeded Organ Mountain visited and fell victim to the fifth-seed Hobbs, 81-62. Finally, the 14th-seed, Mayfield High, put up a valiant effort as they fell by just five points on the road to Rio Rancho, 66-61.
As for the two Las Cruces winners, both played on Wednesday, March 11. Mesilla Valley Christian played the fourth-seed, Santa Rosa, at the Rio Rancho Events Center, pulling out a one-point victory, defeating Santa Rosa 69-68. However, MVC’s luck did not hold Friday, March 13, as they were defeated by No. 1 seed Texico, 62-45. The Las Cruces High Bulldawgs faced off against the top-seeded and winners of four straight state championships, the Volcano Vista Hawks. It was a buzzsaw the Bulldawgs couldn’t stop, as they fell to Volcano Vista 54-37.
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