Hope Christian routs Rams

ALBUQUERQUE — The Portales High Rams had a long trip Tuesday, and a long night to match.

Hope Christian took control of the District 4-4A boys basketball matchup in the early going, and managed to run away for a 76-41 victory.

"I thought our kids showed up ready to play, but we missed some shots that were pretty good shots," Rams coach Rickie McBroom said. "(Hope) is really good at transition scoring and they were hard to stop."

Portales (11-9, 2-2) trailed by seven points to start the second quarter, but little by little, the Huskies (14-7, 4-0) added to that lead. Hope Christian extended its lead to 38-25 at the half, before outscoring the Rams 38-16 in the second half.

The Rams shot just 13-of-52 (25 percent) from the field, and made just 10 of their 20 free throw attempts. Tyrese Dawson was the only Ram in double figures, as he finished with 13 points.

"We've really been talking about coming out and being ready and we did that tonight," McBroom explained. "But we succeed in spurts, and we got to do it on both ends for the entire game."

Portales visits Robertson 5 p.m. Saturday, in a rematch from Jan. 5 when the Rams won 60-54. According to McBroom, Robertson has been up and down this year.

"Next week is gonna be our toughest week. We're at Moriarty and then we play Ruidoso," McBroom said of the Rams' two upcoming district games. "If we can win both games, we're in good shape. The most important part of the season is still in front of us, and all of us (District 4 teams) have lost to Hope already. But we can still beat those teams, and at this point, we're all just trying to beat each other."