Eagles dominate second half in win over Eunice

CLOVIS — For most of three quarters, it looked like the Clovis Christian and Eunice boys were headed for a similar type of finish to their earlier matchup, won by the Eagles 51-50 in overtime at Eunice.

Then, CCS junior guards Carter Teune and Noah Gershon took over.

Teune (10) and Gershon (four) supplied the first 14 points in a 17-0 run, and Clovis Christian cruised down the stretch for a 53-36 victory over the Cardinals at the CCS gym on Monday night.

Teune finished with 24 points and Gershon 19 as the Eagles (8-2) posted their eighth consecutive victory.

The teams went into halftime tied 26-26.

“Our big guys started rebounding, and Noah and I started getting some steals,” said Teune, who came up a bit short of his career-best 29 points from last season. “I thought it was going to be (close again), but it was easier to read their passes because they kind of did the same thing.”

Monday’s game was the first for CCS since Dec. 16, and the Eagles don’t play again until visiting Floyd next Tuesday. That followed a stretch of five games in eight days, including a tournament championship at Cloudcroft.

“We kind of ran out of gas (after the tournament),” CCS coach Trent McKay said. “This was probably the first game where we came out after halftime and were able to put the game away.”

Eunice coach Mason McBee, who came to the school after a stint as Dora’s football coach, called the loss “ugly” for his squad. After committing just five turnovers in the first half, the Cardinals (4-6) were guilty of 18 over the final two stanzas, including 11 in the third period.

CCS held Eunice scoreless for a span of nearly 10 minutes in the second half, carrying into the final minute.

“Poor fundamentals — that’s what the game boiled down to,” McBee said. “It’s more about us than what they did to us. (Teune and Gershon) are two good athletes, but we forced a lot of passes in there.”

Seniors Ovi and Jorge Ontiveros finished with 12 and 10 points, respectively, for Eunice.

In other games on Monday night:

Dora girls 45, Jal 40 — The Lady Coyotes (7-3) built a 17-point lead through three quarters en route to a road victory over Jal (3-10).

Junior Jenna Ramirez scored a personal-best 14 points for Dora, while sophomore Faith Jasso had 12 and senior Katelyn Burnett eight. The Lady Panthers were paced by 15 points from junior Leilani Sauceda.

Jal 44, Dora boys 39 — The Coyotes led much of the game, but the Panthers (9-2) broke away from a tie by outscoring Dora 15-10 in the final segment.

Junior Jacob Lujan tallied 27 points to lead Jal, while junior Steven Masini led the Coyotes (5-4) with 19 points.