Wildcats even district score

CLOVIS — The Clovis boys basketball team couldn’t afford another District 4-5A loss, especially against Hobbs, the one district team that had already beaten the Wildcats this season.

Clovis has big postseason ambitions, in the district and state playoffs, so winning Friday night’s rematch against the Eagles was one of the biggest items on the Wildcats’ to-do list for the regular season’s final stretch.

And Clovis was able to cross that one off the list after playing strong from beginning to end, never once trailing, and ultimately beating Hobbs 67-56 at Rock Staubus Gymnasium. The ’Cats likely positioned themselves well for the upcoming postseason seedings while dealing one of their most talented and fierce rivals its first district loss.

Not a bad haul for one night’s work, making Clovis head coach Jaden Isler pleased with his team’s effort.

“Yeah, extremely proud,” Isler said. “I thought we executed our game plan about as good as we could tonight. I thought our kids were really in tune to what our goals were throughout the game. I thought we managed the game well. I thought we took care of the ball great and we were unselfish.”

“This is a really big win,” Wildcats senior center Bryce Cabeldue said after scoring a game-high 15 points. “I’m glad we finally beat Hobbs this year, and we’re just going to keep rolling from here.”

“This is really big,” Clovis senior forward Ro Morgan said after adding 13 points to the Wildcat cause. “Another win in district will help us a lot. If we can get the next two (against Carlsbad and Roswell), that’d be good for us.”

Clovis headed into the three-day holiday weekend with a 17-7 record overall, 3-1 district. Hobbs, meanwhile, left Staubus Gym with the same 3-1 district record, 16-8 overall.

“We missed a lot of shots,” Eagles head coach Shelby Reeves said. “The way we play — we like to run, we like to press – and in order to do that you’ve got to make shots. And we missed a lot of shots and threw the ball away, and they capitalized. They did more running than we did.”

Clovis looked sharp, energetic, which was a good sign considering Friday’s game occurred after a week layoff. It was supposed to be only three days since the Wildcats’ most recent game, but last Tuesday’s scheduled contest against Carlsbad was snowed out. So Clovis had to make the most of this past week’s run-up to Hobbs’ visit.

“We really went hard on them Wednesday (in practice) and really tried to make it more like a game,” Isler said. “We went for a solid hour with no breaks, just tried to make sure it was more of a game-type situation, just to get our legs back under us, because we lost a day on Tuesday. … So I thought we did a really good job with them this week.”

It seemed to show Friday night. Clovis jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead on a Dewayne Dawson bank shot and a Morgan free throw. The only time all night Clovis didn’t lead was when Hobbs’ Quintrel Van Hook buried a straightaway trey that tied the game 3-all on the Eagles’ possession immediately following Morgan’s foul shot.

Clovis scored on its next possession when Dawson hit a right-corner three which, as it turned out, put the Wildcats ahead for good. Dawson drove for a fast-break basket on Clovis’ next possession, making it an 8-3 game, and the ’Cats were off and rolling. Dawson had provided seven of their eight points, more than half his eventual total of 13.

Clovis held a steady lead throughout the first quarter — the highlight of which was a Cabel-dunk from Cabeldue — and was up 19-15 by quarter’s end.

Josiah Lombrana drove for a lay-in to begin the second-quarter scoring, and again the Wildcats were off and running. Hobbs stayed in it, but later in the period, Clovis did get a little separation, scoring five straight points — on an Ethan Gershon three-point play completed at the line and a wide-open Gershon layup off a cross-court pass from Cabeldue — bumping a 26-23 lead up to 31-23 with less than two minutes to play before halftime.

Clovis was again up by eight — this time 35-27 — when Hobbs’ Jalen Goar hit a late-second-quarter three to make it a five-point game. With 0.6 seconds left in the half, Morgan went 1-for-2 from the line, sending his team into the locker room with a 36-30 advantage.

Clovis opened the second half on a 5-2 run, kick-started by a Lombrana trey on the third quarter’s opening possession, and complemented by a Cabeldue putback, sandwiched around a fast break layup from Van Hook, all of which resulted in a 41-32 Clovis lead.

But on Hobbs’ next two possessions, a pair of Teren Smith foul shots followed by a steal and layup from Van Hook, quickly shaved the Wildcats’ advantage to 41-36. A fast-break hoop from Clovis’ Mason Figueroa was immediately answered by a Zarius Duarte three, narrowing the difference to 43-39. And after a Morgan free throw with 4:13 left in the third quarter, Hobbs’ Ryan Vargas scored, trimming Clovis’ lead to a precarious 44-41.

“I thought in the third quarter, maybe we could get them tired,” Reeves said. “But they did a good job of handling the ball, got the ball to Cabeldue. They made plays, they made more plays than we made.”

Cabeldue started making some of those plays to give Clovis more of a cushion, first scoring on a wide-open shot from underneath after the Wildcats beat a full-court press, and then coming up with a steal and feeding Lombrana for a fast-break layup. Lombrana was fouled on the shot, hit the awarded free throw, and just like that it was a 49-41 game.

Clovis led 55-46 by the third quarter’s end, but it took nearly three minutes into the fourth period for either team to score. Cabeldue finally provided some fourth-quarter offense with an inside basket at the 5:05 mark, bringing about the Wildcats’ first double-digit lead of the night, 57-46.

Clovis had an arm’s-length advantage the rest of the way, never leading by less than eight.

When it was over, the Wildcats had avenged their 75-59 loss at Hobbs from Jan. 31, and had taken a big stride closer to the postseason.

“We just need to stay focused,” Cabeldue said, “and get the next two wins so we can win district.”