Texico teams clinch top spots in 5-3A

SANTA ROSA — Though it’s closing in on the Texico Wolverines, the District 5-3A tournament isn’t as far away as they’d think.

But both teams know where they’ll be in two weekends — at home, hosting the district championships. They earned that right with Saturday wins at Santa Rosa — 55-39 for the boys and 59-30 for the girls.

Both went to 5-0 in district, and clinch their district’s top seed no matter what happens at home Friday against Tucumcari. The boys improved to 24-0 on the season, while the girls (21-3) made it 15 straight victories.

There was a little bit of adversity early for the boys, but a 12-4 second quarter turned an early five-point deficit around and the game was all but sealed with a 21-11 third.

Skyler Davis scored 23 to lead the Wolverines, while Dalton Thatcher added 12 for Texico.

“They came out with their zone press, and we had a hard time converting into our halfcourt offense early on,” Texico coach Ty Thatcher said. “We let a few guys free early, and (Steven) Sanchez hit a few shots against our zone. Luke hit a big shot for us in that quarter to keep us right there. I thought the kids did a pretty good job of buckling down in the second quarter.

“Right out of the half, we hit some big shots and made that first run to extend the lead to double digits. Once we got that, we just had to rebound the basketball.”

The girls game wasn’t nearly as dramatic, with the Wolverines jumping out to a 21-5 lead.

“They did a really good job in the first quarter of dictating tempo,” coach Richard Luscombe said of the girls. “We got in our pressure defense, got some steals. You always worry after having a little bit of a letdown after a big game. I think we handled it well.”

Baylee Sours scored 19 points to lead a balanced effort for the Wolverines. Nobody else notched double figures, but seven others scored with four netting between seven and eight points.