Wildcats work quickly in win over Rams

PORTALES — The Clovis and Portales boys basketball teams won’t play each other in the state tournament, the Wildcats being 5A, the Rams 4A.

But they always like the challenge of facing a competitive opponent in general. And they also like playing each other specifically because they’re local rivals, separated only by a 20-mile stretch of highway.

Tuesday night at the Ram Athletic Center, the teams squared off in this year’s installment of the area rivalry, with the Wildcats jumping out to a big lead early and staying in control throughout to beat the Rams 72-52.

Despite Tuesday’s decisive home loss, Portales head coach Rickie McBroom is a fan of the rivalry overall.

“I love it,” McBroom said. “We’re not going to see very many teams like Clovis in 4A, so I think it shows us the areas we need to work on and get better at.”

“It’s a longstanding game that’s been going on through the history of these two programs,” Clovis head coach Jaden Isler said. “Me and Coach McBroom talked before the game about the reason we don’t ever want to lose these games is because it’s a good rivalry — even though our classes are different — it’s something our fans are used to. And our communities are so close, we want to make sure we always get one of these games played.”

Even when the outcome is not long in doubt, like Tuesday night.

“Year to year, sometimes they’re great games, sometimes they’re a little lopsided,” Isler said. “But it’s a good healthy rivalry and we’re glad to participate in it.”

Tuesday, Clovis put its stamp on the game soon after tip-off. Less than midway through the first quarter, before some spectators had settled into their seats, the Wildcats had soared to a 12-2 lead. 12-2 soon became 15-2. And 15-2 was transformed into 18-2 by a Blake Muscato trey from the left corner.

Not long after a free throw by Portales’ Josiah Tellez with 2:26 left in the first quarter, the Rams reclaimed possession, but Ethan Gershon’s steal and layup made it a 20-3 game just like that.

After another Tellez free throw, Clovis scored on its ensuing possession, getting a top-of-the-key three from Malik Phillips to hand the Wildcats a 23-4 advantage.

“Especially against teams that play zone we want to try to make sure our tempo is right,” Isler said. “So we talked about making sure we started the game off with a lot of tempo — offensively in the half-court, and when we had chances to run in the full court. And our starters did a good job right off the bat of getting that tempo where it needed to be.”

“I think because we lost two games (at the Joe Armijo Classic in Albuquerque last week) we really needed to pick it up and show everyone that we can play,” Wildcats senior center Bryce Cabeldue said.

Watching the Rams fall into such a deep early hole puzzled McBroom.

“I don’t have a clue,” he said. “I don’t know. I wish I knew; I’d write a book and I’d be in the Bahamas right now. I don’t know, I don’t know. They came out and we just didn’t meet the intensity, and so we’ve just got to make sure that we’re ready to go at the beginning of the ballgame.”

Tellez scored underneath off a Kellan Hightower assist just before the first-quarter buzzer to give Portales a little momentum going into the second, and the Rams did notch the initial bucket of the new quarter when Kenevan Bailey hit a right-arc trey that made it 23-9.

But Clovis baskets on consecutive possessions — a fast-break hoop from Josiah Lombrana and a Dewayne Dawson putback — stretched the Wildcats’ lead to 18.

Clovis stayed in command throughout the second quarter, and more than midway through with the Wildcats up 32-14, they pushed the margin into 20-plus territory for the first time when Dawson collected a steal, drove for a layup and was fouled in the process. He sank the free throw, giving Clovis a 35-14 advantage with 3:03 to go before halftime.

By intermission, Clovis still held a 21-point edge, leading 42-21. The Wildcats had it to 59-30 by the third quarter’s end and still managed to win by 20, even after Portales outscored them 22-13 in the fourth.

When the game was over, both coaches found room for improvement going forward.

“We’re pretty balanced and our kids are playing hard right now,” Isler said. “But we’ve got to get in a little better shape to play with the tempo we want to play with. We’re not quite pressing as much as we want to be. ... We’ve got some things we need to work on.”

“I think we just need to continue to work on playing together and execution on both ends of the floor,” McBroom said. “We’re still, I think, working from behind in the sense that we got our kids late (from the football team’s state-championship run), and usually it takes us through the Littlefield Tournament to really get to the point that we are where we need to be. So we’re working toward that point right now.”