Wildcats finish second at tourney

CLOVIS — Clovis’ boys basketball team was hoping to lug a nice bounty into 2019. A seven-game winning streak and a holiday tournament title were the treasures Clovis wanted to haul into January.

Neither was to be. In Saturday night’s Griego & Sons Holiday Classic championship game at Rock Staubus Gymnasium, Volcano Vista led most of the way and stretched to double-digit margins in the second half, eventually winning by a comfortable 74-48 score.

Clovis had its win streak snapped at six, while Volcano went home with a 7-1 record and the tournament crown.

“It’s an honor to win a tournament like this,” Volcano Vista head coach Greg Brown said. “This is a tournament that we have been part of in the past and have never won it. And to come down to Clovis and win the Clovis holiday tournament is special for us.”

For the Wildcats (8-4), runner-up status was not what they set out to achieve, but head coach Jaden Isler didn’t think Saturday’s game was one for the scrap heap, either.

“I thought our kids executed what we wanted to do well,” Isler said. “We wanted to press the tempo up a notch and try to make them play at our tempo, and I thought through the first half we really did. It didn’t result in a ton of made baskets for us, but it kept the pace where we wanted it. I thought we took them out of what they like to do offensively pretty well. So I was really happy about that.”

But not too happy about the 26-point loss. Clovis did stay in it throughout the first half, though. Volcano led just 15-11 after one quarter, and an inside basket from Clovis’ Bryce Cabeldue began the second-quarter scoring while making it a two-point game.

That, however, was when Volcano started gaining separation. On the Hawks’ possession after Cabeldue’s hoop, Cesar Madrid canned a three to give his team an 18-13 lead. As it turned out, Madrid also kick-started a 9-0 run that was a case of bad news coming in threes for Clovis, because Madrid’s trey was followed by a Jalontae Gray three-point basket and a three-point play by Dion Battle completed at the foul-line, making it 24-13.

Clovis whittled it down to 24-19 on a pair of Ro Morgan tip-ins and two Jacob Moon free throws, and it was still a five-point difference (26-21) a bit later in the period. But Volcano closed the half on a 6-2 run and led 32-23 at the break.

The second half began with six straight points for the Hawks — consecutive Jake Deatherage baskets and a Ben Manzano layup — to put them up by 15.

“Going into the third quarter, we came out a little bit lackadaisical,” Isler said, “and they jumped on us early.”

Clovis was never closer than 12 again. The Hawks seemed to get better as the second half went on, with the 74-48 final score marking their biggest margin of the night.

Clovis’ approach may have also had something to do with it.

“The final score of that game doesn’t really match what the game really was,” Isler said. “We went to over-trapping in the fourth quarter, just to see if we could maybe jump back in it and get it close. And we gave up some easy layups.”

Brown was impressed with how his Hawks took control of the game.

“I thought we really played well defensively,” he said. “We have bought into the defensive side of the ball and it just feels like we have five guys that are working well together. Offensively, we’re still a work in progress; we’re going to work on our offense. But it was fun to watch our defense play tonight.”

Brown was also impressed with the Wildcats as an opponent, with how far they seem to have come.

“Clovis is a program that is definitely on the rise,” Brown said. “It is going in the direction that Coach Isler wants it to go. They have the right coach, they’re doing a lot of very good things, and I believe it’s a matter of time before they’re one of the top programs again.”