Gallup Bengals Advance to 4A State Semifinals With 48-38 Victory Over Silver

Defending state champion Gallup held Silver scoreless for roughly eight minutes, turned a 7-0 deficit into a commanding lead, and closed out a 48-38 quarterfinal victory at the Pit on Tuesday to advance to the Class 4A state semifinals.

Silver's Nyssa Tinajero gave the Colts an early jolt, scoring all seven points during an opening 7-0 run. The second-seeded Bengals answered by locking down defensively, going on a 12-0 run and holding Silver off the board for approximately eight minutes. Gallup's pressure never fully relented: the Bengals finished the game having forced 32 turnovers on the Colts.

"I thought we played hard. Defensively, we played real well," said Gallup coach Todd McBroom. "Forced 32 turnovers on them — and so that's always a positive."

Tinajero made the final minutes tense. The Silver standout scored eight points in the fourth quarter and was the driving force behind a Colts rally that cut the deficit to 45-38 with less than two minutes remaining. Gallup answered at the foul line to seal the win, finishing Tinajero's monster performance at 20 points and 16 rebounds without surrendering the lead.

The victory sends Gallup into a semifinal matchup against No. 3 Albuquerque Academy, which dispatched No. 11 Shiprock 63-44 in its own quarterfinal. That game is scheduled for 8 a.m. Thursday. Kirtland Central and Hope Christian round out the final four, with the Albuquerque Journal noting that all four top seeds advanced out of the quarterfinals.

According to the Journal, both of last season's Class 4A finalists remain alive in the bracket, a detail that adds weight to what is already a high-stakes semifinal slate. Junior Kayden Tsosie leads Gallup in scoring at 12.9 points per game this season and also tops the team in rebounds (4.8) and blocks (1.1), while junior Mykeia Vicenti leads with 3.6 steals per game — a figure consistent with the kind of ball-pressure defense that produced 32 turnovers against Silver.