Clayton tops Lady Wolverines

TEXICO - While prep basketball teams are happy to play any schedule, it was evident from Saturday's Texico-Clayton District 6-2A tilt that an NBA-type slate has profound impacts.

The Yellowjackets (6-2, 3-1 district) got their second win over Texico in nine days, dominating the third quarter to secure a 45-29 victory at the Texico Sports Arena.

In the boys game, Jahvon Askew had a game-high 23 points as Texico cruised to a 65-53 win.

Mandy Crisp scored 18 for Clayton, which split games after its 55-35 home win over Texico April 15 - a 64-29 win against Santa Rosa the following Saturday, and a 51-45 loss at Pecos Thursday.

"I think we're tired," Clayton coach Justin Daugherty said following the win, which was never in doubt when the Yellowjackets found the energy to apply full-court pressure. "I thought we played pretty flat. With an NBA type of schedule, it's tough.

"When we play the way we're capable, we're able to create chaos and cause problems for teams."

They caused more than enough problems for Texico (3-6, 1-3), which was led by Riley Rohrbach's 12 points but struggled to start its offense much of the afternoon and trailed by as many as 18 in the fourth.

"That's been one of our biggest problems all year," coach Richard Luscombe said. "Our guards are young, low on experience. You hope nine games in, they get better with it, but with so little practice time you're working on it in games.

"We'll be right there with good teams until halftime, we'll try to make some adjustments and turnovers just come in bunches. You're not going to be able to beat good teams doing that."

Boys - The Texico boys struggled to pull away late, following an early stretch punctuated by runs from each squad - a 4-0 Clayton run to start the game, followed by a 5-0 Texico burst, then an 8-0 Clayton run and an 8-0 Texico run.

Texico coach Craig Cook, despite the win, said Saturday was frustrating because the Wolverines just never seemed to find the extra gear to put the Yellowjackets away.

"We didn't take care of the small battles," Cook said. "We preach and harp, even in practice, we've got to win every possession, and we didn't get close to that."

Yellowjackets coach Joey Montoya said he was proud of his team for staying in against what he believes is the top team in Class 2A, but was frustrated they couldn't capitalize on chances to cut the late lead to single digits and see how Texico might handle the pressure of a tight game.

"We'd get a loose ball, and we'd get a turnover," Montoya said. "The air would just come out of us."

David Davalos added 11 for Texico (7-2, 4-0), while Cade Collins had nine points and two of the Wolverines' eight 3-pointers.

Rylan Ruf had 18 to lead three in double figures for the Yellowjackets (3-5, 0-4). Blake McClure added 15 points, while Dario Avila had 14.

Both Texico teams resume district play Thursday at Pecos.