Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Portales breaks two-game skid, moves to 9-2.
The Rams' Tyrese Dawson dribbles as he looks for the open man during Tuesday night's matchup with Goddard.
PORTALES — The Portales High boys basketball team survived another encounter with Goddard High, winning 78-63 Tuesday night.
Led by Jeremie Karngbaye with 25 points, Junior Ramirez turned in 18 and held Rockets standout LeAnthoney Harrison to 17, with just six second-half points.
The first half saw the Rams (9-2) playing neck and neck with the Rockets (8-7), with both teams taking mostly outside shots. Portales also was playing a four man zone while one defender guarded the dangerous Harris. The zone allowed to many open shots for Goddard according to Rams coach Rickie McBroom, who switched to a strict man defense in the third quarter.
On offense, almost half of Portales' points came from beyond the arc and the Rams' leading scorer, Karngbaye, only recorded four points in the first half.
"We talked about that at half time and we always want our kids, even though its a zone, to penetrate ... So the kids, they made a little bit of an adjustment and it really is just where you are on the floor, spacing and position," said McBroom.
The defensive switch combined with a Goddard press saw the Rams outscore the Rockets 47-33 in the second half. Even after several wide open layups after breaking the press, Goddard refused to leave it, which only worsened things.
McBroom said, "We have four guards out there and that really helps, then you have Jeremie out there and he's really what makes our press breaker go. It led to a lot of easy baskets that we haven't been getting the last couple of days."
