Rams top Cats

PORTALES - It's amazing what a little bit of time at home, and a pair of blowouts, can do to your district chances.

Just a week ago, the Portales boys basketball team was fighting for third place in District 4-4A.

Thanks to a pair of big wins at the Ram Athletic Center Tuesday and Friday, they enter the 4-4A tournament as the second seed.

The Rams rolled past Artesia 68-48, leading by double digits for almost all the second half and posting a crucial district win. Then on Friday, a big first-half run led to a 46-35 win that wasn't nearly as close as the final score indicated.

As the second seed, the Rams will host either Lovington or Artesia Thursday, with that winner heading to Goddard Saturday. Had Portales finished third, they'd have hosted Lovington on Tuesday, then had to win an additional game at Artesia to reach the title game.

"It's big," Hightower said of moving up one seed. "It gives us a game off to prepare, get a little healthier."

Boys cruise

Portales' boys weren't in quite the same position as the girls, but came through anyway.

Heading into Tuesday night's game, the Rams were 1-3 in district play, facing an Artesia team that was 3-1 against district foes. But it didn't play out the way those records may have indicated. Though it was cold and snowy outside, the Rams heated it up inside, jumping on Artesia early and staying in command the rest of the way.

Portales raced to an 11-2 first-quarter lead and remained in control by answering whenever Artesia seemed ready to crawl back into it. A Bulldog trey made it 11-5, but Julian Urioste answered with a hook on Portales' next possession. Another Bulldog three was answered with a left-elbow trey from Urioste to give the Rams a 16-8 lead. With the score 16-9 late in the first quarter, a Philip Blidi putback made it 20-9, and though a Cody Smith three brought Artesia within eight near the end of the first quarter, a Rico Diaz layup gave Portales a 22-12 advantage early in the second.

Portales led by a relatively modest 35-26 count by halftime, but had constructed a 49-32 advantage by late in the third quarter and led 51-39 early in the fourth. Artesia snuck to within single digits - 53-44 - midway though the fourth period, but Urioste hit a field goal to put the Rams up by 11. And after a Hightower steal ended the ensuing Artesia possession and created a new one for Portales, Urioste finished it by hitting an off-balance baseline jumper to hand the Rams a 57-44 lead.

Always an answer. Which was why Portales wound up winning by 20.

"It was a good game. We played probably our best 32 minutes of the year," Urioste said after scoring a game-high 21 points. "We played good all-around defense, offense. Enthusiastic. It was a good game all the way around."

Boys beat Cats, nab No. 2

With a minute left in the first quarter Friday night, it was 10-10 and it appeared the Rams were in a dogfight with the visiting Wildcats.

That certainly changed over the final nine minutes of the half, with a 25-1 run that made the second half rather academic.

Portales, which took the second seed in 4-4A by virtue of Artesia's loss at Goddard, led by as many as 22 and held a double-figure lead for the final 23 minutes.

"That's how it's been for us," Lovington coach Ezau Rios said. "We'll do a good job of executing for the first half, and then we'll have a bad third quarter. Tonight, it was that final minute of the first and the second quarter that did it. But they fought throughout."

Lovington made the score respectable with a 3-point barrage in the fourth.

Hightower scored all of his team-high 12 points in the first half.

"I feel like we've struggled on offense during district, but our defense has been good," Hightower said. "When we were able to get stops tonight, we were able to turn those into chances to score."

Coach Rickie McBroom echoed those sentiments, and noted the six 3-pointers Portales hit in the first half were crucial in building the halftime lead.

"It was great, because those shots came out of our offense," McBroom said. "When it's inside our offense, we hit those 3s. It's when we take 3s outside of our offense that we struggle with them."

Isaac Hinson led Lovington with 15 points on five 3-pointers - two in the first, three in the fourth.

- Staff writer Peter Stein contributed to this report