Ram boys claim win at Robertson

LAS VEGAS, N.M. — The Portales High boys basketball team got some much-needed momentum Saturday night, claiming a 64-54 win at Robertson behind 16 points from Tyrese Dawson.

"We needed to come out, play a full game of 32 minutes," Portales coach Rickie McBroom said of the Rams, who improved to 12-9 in the non-district tilt before facing Moriarty on the road Tuesday. "I thought we did that. It was a very important game for momentum going into tuesday, and to be honest we needed another win in the left column to keep pace with the rest of the state."

Braden Bridges scored 15 points for Portales, whiel Rico Diaz added nine and Kellan Hightower seven.

Emiliano Berged had a game-high 19, while Arjay Ortiz added 18 for the Cardinals (8-15). Despite Robertson's record, McBroom thought it was a great win considering the Cardinals had just beaten Santa Fe on the road.

"I really thought we were in control defensively," McBroom said. "We told the kids we needed to execute a little better on offense, and we did. We ran some set plays in the second half that really opened up the basket for us. But really, the key to that game was defense. We've been working hard on defense this week, and we were rewarded for it."