Clovis teams split

CLOVIS - Tuesday was a double-header night at Rock Staubus Gymnasium, featuring back-to-back Clovis basketball games with mixed results.

The Clovis boys took care of Goddard 72-62; the Clovis girls fell short against Artesia, 68-61. Another building block for the Wildcats. For the Lady 'Cats, losing perhaps pushed them farther away from gaining consecutive state-tournament berths.

Breaking away

Clovis' boys team posted its 13th victory in 22 tries by taking care of a solid 10-win Goddard team.

Clovis led in the first quarter, fell behind in the second, took control by halftime and stayed there for most of the final two quarters.

"I thought our pressure got to 'em a little bit," Wildcats boys coach Jaden Isler said. "We switched presses in the second quarter and that gave us some deflections."

Clovis had jumped out to a 12-7 lead by the end of the first quarter, but saw Goddard quickly cut into that during the second. A few minutes into the quarter, the Rockets had pulled their way into a 13-all tie.

Goddard soon had the ball again with a chance to take its first lead of the game, but Anthony Gutierrez came up with a steal, beginning a possession that ended with a Bryce Cabeldue bucket that put Clovis back in front.

The lead was shortlived, though, as seven straight Goddard points gave the Rockets a 20-15 edge. A basket by Clovis' Jacob Moon cut it to three, then a steal and layup from Moon made it a 20-19 game.

A Derek Carrica foul shot put Goddard up 21-19 before a Cabeldue turnaround tied it at 21. It was deadlocked at 23 after Clovis' Mason Figueroa and Goddard's Noah Nunez exchanged baskets, but Clovis soon surged ahead again, this time for good.

Dominick Urioste gave the Wildcats a 26-23 lead on a right-elbow trey, beginning an 11-4 run to end the half. The run's other eight points were scored by: a Jaden Phillips free throw, a Dewayne Dawson steal and layup, another Urioste trey and an Ethan Gershon basket off a turnover. Goddard's four points came on field goals by Nunez and Jonah Chavez.

The above scoring resulted in a 34-27 Wildcats lead at halftime. Clovis scored the second half's first five points - on a two-point basket from Cabeldue and a three-point play completed at the line by Moon - giving the 'Cats a 39-27 lead just 26 seconds into the third quarter.

Though Goddard closed the gap to 39-33, Clovis ended the third quarter on a 13-4 surge and carried a 15-point lead into the final period, during which they stayed in command.

"The third quarter, that's a big quarter for us," Isler said, "because we've been struggling lately in third quarters to come out and get some points on the board. And I thought we did a great job right away. ... So I thought our third quarter was really good, I thought our pressure was good."

Good Moon rising

Moon has become more and more of a factor for Clovis as the season's gone on, and that trend continued Tuesday when he led the Wildcats with 21 points.

Cabeldue added 12 points for the 'Cats, followed by Urioste and Muscato with nine each.

Carrica scored 21, tying Moon for the game-high. Jon Carrillo added 12 points for Goddard.

So close and yet ...

The Lady Wildcats were in it for most of the way against Artesia. But then, what else is new?

The Lady 'Cats have been in most of their games this season, yet as of Tuesday had won just seven of them.

They were within six late in Tuesday's second quarter before committing a foul just before halftime, allowing two Artesia free throws that resulted in a 36-28 Lady Wildcats deficit at the break.

Clovis pulled within six in the second half, only to watch Artesia answer with a 7-0 run.

"We just had too many breakdowns on defense and too many turnovers and too many missed opportunities on offense," Clovis girls coach Jeff Reed said. "If you're going to allow Artesia to score 68 then you better be scoring on the opportunities that you have, and we didn't take advantage of all the opportunities. Although we did score a lot for us, we've got to be better than that, obviously."

No surrender

Even near the end, when the Lady Wildcats appeared done as they trailed 67-55, they battled back to make it a little interesting. Antanishwa Molett hit a field goal, then a bit later knocked down a foul shot to make it 67-58.

After a Molett defensive rebound on the other end, she sent a right-to-left pass Annabelle Martinez's way, and Martinez buried a trey to bring Clovis within six.

The problem was, there were only around 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

"If we would've had maybe a minute, or maybe two minutes, instead of seconds left, and if I were to have five more timeouts and I could have stopped the clock, maybe we would've had an opportunity," Reed said. "But if you run out of timeouts there's nothing you can do about it, so you can't stop the clock anymore, except for fouling. You can't get the defense set how you want."

Molett paced the Lady 'Cats with 17 points. Madison Tolbert chipped in with 14 points for Clovis, followed by Mikyla Harkley with 10 and Kaydee Weaver with nine.

Artesia's Makinli Taylor scored a game-high 18 points. Brehnan Davis added 16 points for the Lady Bulldogs, with Elliot Harrison adding 13 for the 'Dogs.