Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Logan claimed the EPAC championship over Melrose in the 2020 tournament. This week's tournament will be the first held since then, with the 2021 tournament canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
GRADY - Fort Sumner's basketball teams were accorded the top seeds in this week's Eastern Plains Athletic Conference tournament, scheduled to begin tonight at Grady H.S.
Fort Sumner's boys bring a 4-2 record into the four-day event, while the Fort Sumner girls are 7-1.
Quarterfinal games are on tap at Grady today and Thursday before the scene shifts to Texico H.S. for the final two days.
In boys matchups today, eighth-seeded Floyd takes on the Foxes at 4:30 p.m. while second-seeded Melrose and No. 7 Grady square off at 7:30 p.m. On Thursday, it's No. 5 Dora against No. 4 Elida in the early tilt, with sixth-seeded Logan meeting No. 3 Texico in the late game.
Girls first-round matchups send No. 8 Floyd against the Vixens at 3 p.m. and second-seeded Logan against No. 7 Grady at 6 p.m. today, with fifth-seeded Texico facing fourth seed Tatum at 3 p.m. and No. 6 Dora taking on Melrose at 6 p.m.
Consolation and championship semifinals are set for Friday and final-round games for Saturday at Texico Sports Arena. Championship games are on tap for 6:30 p.m. (girls) and 8:15 p.m. (boys) on Saturday.
Last season was the first without an EPAC event since its inception - 1958 for the boys, 1976 for the girls. In the 2020 event, Melrose won its first EPAC boys title since 1993, crushing Tatum 66-37 in the finals at Eastern New Mexico University's Greyhound Arena, while Logan defeated Melrose 58-51 in double overtime to claim the girls championship.
Prior to that, Texico had notched crowns in both divisions for the previous four years.
Portales Shootout - Also after a year's hiatus, the Rams and Lady Rams host four-team, round-robin events beginning on Thursday at the Ram Athletic Center.
Four games are slated each day, beginning at 2:30 p.m. and alternating girls and boys tilts. PHS will play the late girls and boys games each night.
Thursday's opening girls contests send Carlsbad (8-3 before Tuesday) against Jal (3-10) and Portales (9-3) against Kirtland Central (8-2 before Tuesday). Boys matchups include Jal (9-2) against Andrews, Texas (12-5 before Tuesday) in the 4 p.m. tipoff, with the Rams (5-5) taking on El Paso Cathedral (15-11) in the late contest.
