Portales drops opener to Roswell

ROSWELL — Despite knocking down 11 3-pointers in Thursday’s season-opener, the Portales boys basketball team still lost by double digits against the Roswell Coyotes. The Coyotes outscored the Rams, 19-7, in the third quarter, en route to a 72-55 victory.

Portales (0-1) kept pace with Roswell (2-1) in the first half, trailing just 31-28, heading into the break. However, the Rams scored just seven points in the third period, and were unable to recover from there.

“We held their leading scorer (Tarren Burrola) to seven points. Overall, we played a real solid first half,” Rams coach Rickie McBroom explained. “But our conditioning in the second half hurt us. But, our kids played hard until the end. It was a good challenge to open the season against a really good team like Roswell.”

Tyrese Dawson led the Rams with 16 points and seven assists, while Braden Bridges and Jase Wallace had nine points and five boards apiece. Roswell was paced by Logan Eaker’s game-high 19 points, along with 16 more from Jasia Reese.

Portales will host Texico (2-0) tonight at 7 in the Rams’ home-opener.