Rams fall to Moriarty; Lady Rams cruise

The Portales Rams are still learning there aren't mulligans on the basketball court, while Moriarty started tough and finished tougher.

Luke Thomas scored 17 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer and a pair of layups in the fourth quarter, and the 4A Pintos held off hard-charging Portales to notch a 56-51 victory Saturday at the Ram Athletic Center.

The girls game in the nightcap wasn't nearly as close, with Portales never threatened in a 45-13 victory over the Lady Pintos.

Moriarty coach Michael Mondragon, a former guard at Eastern New Mexico University, felt it was important for his team to take control in a hostile road environment, and it did just that with an 11-0 run to open the game. The Pintos built it to 21-5 late in the first quarter — their biggest lead of the night.

Halfway into the first quarter, the Pintos (12-7) held an 11-3 lead and had limited Rams opportunities by grabbing nine of the first 10 rebounds — the only exception an offensive rebound Portales bobbled out of bounds. And that was before hitting four 3-pointers to close out the quarter, including triples on back-to-back-to-back possessions.

"I was telling them to come out with a lot of energy, especially with the rebounding," Mondragon said. "It was definitely huge."

The Rams (10-7) responded with hot outside shooting of their own, inching closer with a combination of Nathan Chavez 3-pointers and inside buckets from Zach Campbell and Reyes Calbert.

Chavez scored a game-high 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting, 5-of-6 from long range, while Calbert posted seven points to go with eight boards.

"For us to be effective we've got to be balanced, inside-out," Portales coach Rickie McBroom said. "When we do that, we're really good as a team offensively."

The Rams notched a 35-35 tie in the final minute of the third with Calbert hitting a pair of free throws, but the Pintos took the lead back when Thomas stole a cross-court pass and raced in for the layup as time expired.

The Rams took the lead with a right-elbow Chavez 3-pointer off the inbounds, but Thomas answered with a trey and converted another steal-layup play with a free throw in the final two minutes to hold off a last Ram charge.

" He did a good job," Mondragon said of Thomas. "Luke has really been our leader. He's been with me since he was a sophomore, and he stepped up at the right time tonight."

McBroom liked his team's effort, but felt it needed to start before they fell behind by double digits — a problem he felt was on both the players and the coaching staff.

"You've got to step up every game and be ready to go mentally," McBroom said. "I think, physically, we were ready to go.

"We obviously didn't have the start that we wanted, but our kids fought back and took the lead. That's a type of quality you want your team to have."

In the girls' contest, guard Francis Armijo got Portales started early, with seven of her 11 points on back-to-back possessions — a long-range shot on a Hannah Cissell feed with 4:46 left in the first, and the rare four-point play after drawing a foul on her 3-pointer from the right corner.

CMI photo:Kevin WilsonPortales forward Daniel Sanchez gets a first step on Moriarty defender Garrett Wolf in the second half Saturday at the Ram Athletic Center. Sanchez had six points in the 56-51 loss to the Pintos.

The lead stayed around double figures for much of the night, but never approached the 35-point spread for a running clock.

Post Savannah Vincent tied Armijo with 11 for the game high, while also adding 12 rebounds for the Lady Rams (13-6).

Portales coach Clay Stout gives instructions to guard Frances Armijo in the first half Saturday evening at the Ram Athletic Center. Armijo had 11 points in Portales' 45-13 win over Moriarty.

Portales coach Clay Stout, who relaxed his squad's standard pressure defense against a struggling Moriarty squad, said foul trouble threw off the substitution patterns.

"The fouls we picked up were not very smart fouls," Stout said. "It broke our rhythm."

Portales, however, didn't have to do much against Moriarty (2-16), which shot 16 percent for the night and went scoreless in the fourth quarter.

"For starters, it's an honor to play against Portales," Moriarty coach Joe Bailey said. "Coach Stout, coach (Keith) Durham, they're great coaches, and even better than being great coaches, they're great people.

"I have to find a way to transfer the way we practice to the way we play. It isn't happening. We can't relax and play. It wasn't great pressure by them; it was pressure we put on ourselves."

Tasha Stacy, Yesica Fong and Abbey Aultman each scored three points for the Lady Pintos.