LOS LUNAS TIGERS ON TOP OF CLASS 4A

The Los Lunas boys basketball program sits on top of the Class 4A rankings.

“Number one is just a number,” said senior Zanen Zeller.  “You could be 14, you could be 6, you still have to have that same mindset.”

“We have a target on our back for sure so we can’t let up on anything,” added Los Lunas senior Joseph Dominguez.  “We need to keep going hard.”

Head coach Travis Julian believes this is one of their best teams in years.

“I think so, and I don’t say that lightly because we’ve had some good teams here at Los Lunas in the last six years,” Julian said.  “But I think it’s one of the better teams we’ve had, yeah.”

This year’s group is a veteran team with seven seniors.  “We don’t have that one real big guy, but we have several guys 6’3”, 6’4”,” said Julian. “AJ, I guess you could say is 6’5”,” he added.

One of those seniors happens to be one of the most dynamic point guards in the state.  He’s 6 foot 3 inch Zanen Zeller who committed to play for Biola in California.  “Zanen is a very good passer,” Julian described.  “He’s a big point guard, especially for the state of New Mexico.  He’s really good coming off of ball screens, he’s a good leader on the floor, works his butt off in the preseason.  He checks a lot of boxes for us.”

Los Lunas has never won a boys basketball state title.  In fact, when head coach Travis Julian took over, the program had never even won a district title.  They played in the state final in 2014.  Julian knows it’s a long way to the finish line and he’s hoping for a good seed and a good matchup.

“Matchups do matter, people want to say they don’t but they do,” Julian said.  “When it comes time, be at your best.  You have to be at your best in March because you can have a great year and be cold at the wrong time and one of the other teams get hot at the right time and it’s a one game elimination.”

The Tigers are 20-3 and haven’t lost since January 4th.  Los Lunas is at St. Pius X on Friday.