Farwell tops Rams to take title

FARWELL — Dustan Sides was the right man in the right spot on Saturday night.

The 6-foot-4 senior post benefitted from penatration by Farwell’s guards, and he took advantage to score a personal-best 16 points in the Steers’ 56-44 triumph over Portales in the boys championship game of the Farwell Invitational.

“They were playing zone and our guards were able to penetrate,” Sides said. “I was usually open on the opposite block.”

Six-foot-5 senior forward Grayson Waldrop, meantime, did his damage from the perimeter, hitting four 3-pointers to finish with 12 points for the Steers (7-1).

“I thought we did a good job all night of sharing the basketball,” Farwell boys coach Shane Perkins said. “Our guards did a good job of penetrating, and their posts had to come out to help.”

Sides got inside for the game’s first basket 23 seconds into it, and the Steers never relinquished the lead. Waldrop hit a pair of 3s midway through the second quarter after the Rams (3-1) had closed an early 11-point deficit to 17-15.

“They’re big and strong,” first-year Rams coach Randy McBroom said of the Steers. “We’re a young team, and it was great game for us to learn. These are the types of games we want to play.”

Farwell dominated the third period, outscoirng PHS 14-6 to build a 12-point advantage. The Steers held Portales to just 12 tallies over the first 11 minutes of the second half to extend the margin to 16.

“We’re playing well right now,” Sides said. “We’re about where we need to be, but I think we can still do better.”

Senior post Greydon Rigsby had a strong overall game for the Rams and led the team in scoring with 10 points, including six in the first quarter.

“It was definitely his best game of the year,” McBroom said. “We just have to grow as a young team, and we’ll get there.”

Portales will get another crack at Farwell next Monday when the teams meet again, this time in a 6 p.m. (MST) tipoff at the Ram Athletic Center.

In other final-round boys games on Saturday:

Littlefield 51, Muleshoe 38 (third place) — The Wildcats opened a 20-6 lead after one quarter and played the Mules relatively even the rest of the way.

Senior Jaron Cabello paced Littlefield (3-7) with 17 points while junior Tyrell Norman had 10. For Muleshoe (3-5), junior Irvin Torres collected nine points, followed by eight apiece from sophomores Adam Alarcon and Sebastian Kirven.

Texico 49, Hale Center 48 (fifth place) — Down by seven at halftime, the Wolverines (3-2) rallied to take the lead by outscoring the Owls 18-9 in the third stanza and then held on at the finish.

Junior Jahvon Askew had 21 points for Texico, while senior Brayden Bender notched seven of his 14 in the final stanza. For the Owls (3-6), junior Braydon Jenkins and freshman Aiden Baldrige each had nine points.

Sundown 50, Bovina 42 (seventh place) — Trailing 29-21 at halftime, the Roughnecks blanked Bovina 21-0 in the third quarter en route to the victory.

Freshman Jaryn Flores had 14 points for Sundown, while junior Alex Bocanegra put in 10. Senior Angel Lara led the way for the Mustangs (3-7) with 10 points.