Wild(cat) finish

CLOVIS — No matter what happened Saturday night in Clovis High’s District 4-5A boys basketball championship game at Hobbs, the Wildcats’ semifinal victory over Roswell on Thursday at Rock Staubus Gymnasium was gigantic. For a couple of reasons.

Of course there was the obvious — beating the Coyotes 44-43 on Josiah Lombrana’s last-second baseline jumper gave the Wildcats a chance to defend their district title. But looking ahead a bit, Clovis wants to make a run in the state 5A tournament, so rallying to win a close game against a quality 5A team could have boded well for the Wildcats in their state-championship quest.

“You want to get a couple wins coming into the state tournament, you want to feel like you’re on a good little roll,” Clovis head coach Jaden Isler said. “These games are important for us as far as our record and trying to solidify our seed in the state tournament. ... Win or lose Saturday, the state tournament’s a whole new season. We’ve got to just let everything go.”

Getting past Roswell was a big step for the Wildcats, who had lost to the Coyotes 57-54 in overtime less than a week earlier, who had trailed those same Coyotes most of Thursday’s game, and who were down 43-40 with 1:43 left in the fourth quarter of that game, 43-42 with just 4.8 seconds to go, when Isler called a timeout.

“They trusted us there at the end,” Isler said. “We ran a play that we’ve never run before in practice, drew it up in the timeout with four seconds left.”

“Actually, (the play) was (designed) for Dewayne (Dawson), Bryce (Cabeldue) or Ro (Morgan); it wasn’t for me at all,” Lombrana recalled.

And it was Roswell’s task to stop that play.

“We said (to the players), ‘We’ve got to keep guys in front of people, don’t lose anybody,’” Coyotes head coach Dude Burrola said.

Lombrana inbounded the ball, which came to teammate Ro Morgan, who was swarmed by Roswell defenders. So Morgan swatted the ball over to Lombrana on the right baseline.

“They all ran at Ro,” Lombrana said, “and he tipped it back to me. I knew I had to get it off, so I shot it.”

When the shot made liftoff from Lombrana’s fingertips, it already seemed to him like he had done it, like he had won the game.

“Yeah, I was pretty confident,” he said. “I usually practice those shots.”

It was perhaps an improbable end to a game that seemed uphill for Clovis almost all night.

The Wildcats fell into an early 5-0 hole, trailed 7-1 a bit later in the first quarter, 10-3 later still, and were down 14-6 by the quarter’s end.

“We came out really slow tonight,” Isler said, “which is not normal for this team, because this team has really good starts to games. I thought we were kind of on our heels a little bit, playing passive against their zone.”

But Clovis then opened the second quarter on an 11-2 run, capped by Blake Muscato’s leftside trey that gave the ’Cats their first lead of the night and only lead of the half, 17-16.

Roswell, though, went quickly back ahead, thanks to a three-point play that Taymon Burrola completed at the line, making it 19-17. By halftime, the Coyotes led 23-18.

Roswell was ahead throughout the third quarter, though never by more than five points, and was only up 30-29 by the quarter’s end.

Clovis scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter — on a Muscato trey, a Mason Figueroa putback, and a Cabeldue followup — to surge ahead 36-30. But then it was Roswell’s turn for a 7-0 run — all points scored by Taymon Burrola — giving the Coyotes a 37-36 edge.

Clovis regained the lead with an off-the-dribble jumper from Dawson, then inched up 39-37 on a Cabeldue free throw before a Burrola jumper tied it at 39 with 3:45 remaining.

It was tied at 40 with 2:52 left when a driving, opposite-hand bank shot by Dominic Nava gave the Coyotes a two-point lead with 2:15 remaining. And an Alonzo Acosta foul shot increased Roswell’s lead to 43-40 with 1:43 left.

A steal and layup by Cabeldue brought Clovis within 43-42 as 43 seconds remained, and after Roswell’s Talon Sanders couldn’t get a pair of free-throw attempts to fall, Dawson went up for the defensive rebound with 34.6 seconds left.

After a Clovis timeout with 26.9 seconds to go, Cabeldue missed on a short drive, and after a scramble for the rebound, the ball went out of bounds off Roswell.

“I thought we had the stop,” Coach Burrola said. “We had a chance to get a rebound and didn’t get it.”

Setting the stage for Lombrana’s buzzer-beating heroics.

Once Lombrana’s shot had dropped, it was elation for Clovis, heartbreak for Roswell.

“I thought my guys played well,” Coach Burrola said. “We were leading the whole time. It just seemed that two of our best kids were in foul trouble all game long; they got three fouls right away. We still overcame and we still did what we needed to. … I’ve got to give credit to my kids, they fought and they played the way they needed to, to try to win.”

The Wildcats, though, managed to get that win and gave themselves some confidence for the upcoming state tournament.

“Oh, it’s huge,” Lombrana said. “It shows that no matter the score, we’re always in the game.”

Which is especially important because Clovis may not have seen the last of Roswell, even after three meetings already this season.

“There’s a chance we play them again in the first round,” Isler said. “I think the distance between us and them is probably not going to be great as far as our seedings go; that means we have a chance to play them again. Once you get to the state tournament you’re going to play really good teams. 5A, 1 through 16, if you play bad you’re going home.”