Rams hit hardwood running

PORTALES — Suffice it to say, it’s a quick turnaround for the football-playing members of Portales High’s boys basketball squad.

After pounding top-seeded Bloomfield 23-0 in Saturday’s Class 4A state championship football game, the Rams were slated to begin their basketball campaign on Tuesday night at home against Dexter with only one practice for the full roster.

No problem, really, said Rams senior Kellan Hightower on Monday.

“It’s going to be a little tough, conditioning-wise,” said Hightower, one of the football team’s top players and the point guard for the basketball squad. “But I feel like I’m ready to go.”

Six of the Rams’ top 10 basketball players were slated to enter the opener with just the Monday practice behind them.

Once the team rounds into basketball shape, eighth-year coach Rickie McBroom said the Rams should be able to do some damage.

“We think we have good depth,” he said. “We’d like to play a lot of kids, but they have to produce. But I think our depth is one of our strengths.”

Hightower is one of three players with significant returning starting experience. The others are 6-foot-2 junior post Kenevan Bailey and 6-foot senior guard Rico Diaz.

What the Rams will have to do is overcome a relative lack of overall size.

“Ultimately, we want to build towards being a pressing team,” McBroom said. “I think offensively we’ll be OK, but we’ve got to play defense and get rebounds.

“Rebounding is going to be a very important thing for us this year because we’re not very big.”

Tony Ramos, a 5-10 senior guard-forward, is likely to earn one of the other two starting positions for the Rams, while the fifth could come down to 5-8 senior guard-forward Brett Horton and 6-0 junior forward Josiah Tellez.

The Rams also expect help from 5-9 junior point guard Dason Davis, 6-1 sophomore forward Hagen Rains, 5-8 junior guard Chanden Neece and 6-4, 255-pound senior post Philip Blidi, a Texas Tech football commit who could give the team a bit more of an inside presence.

“Hopefully, he can come in and do some things for us,” McBroom said.

Ramos, one of the non-football players, said he’s definitely ready for the season, and expects a much-increased role over last year.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work to get ready,” he said. “It’s been tough (practicing with limited numbers), but some of the other kids are doing good. Once the football guys get settled, I think we’re going to be fine.”

Ramos is just happy to finally have the entire roster together.

“I’m excited for the season,” he said. “I just want to get some wins. It’s my first year starting, but I’m just trying to help out.”

Last year’s team went 3-3 in District 4-4A play against Roswell Goddard, Lovington and Artesia, but Hightower is looking for bigger things this time around.

“We had our ups and downs,” he said of the 2018-19 campaign. “But we’ve put in a lot of work. I feel like our goal is to win the state championship, but that should be the goal every year.

“Our chemistry is something we need to grow into. I’ve just got to be a leader and make sure everybody is comfortable.”

Anybody trying to win a state championship will have to go through defending champion Valley, McBroom said. The Vikings won last year’s state meet after coming in as a No. 7 seed.

‘Valley’s by far the best team in the state,” he said. “They return everybody, and they’ve got a transfer in who should help them.”

But, he added, there are others who could contend, including the Rams.

“I like this team a lot because of the flexibility we have with a lot of the players,” he said. “They play extremely hard, and one thing is they’re very coachable.”