Shooting woes hurt Cats in loss

AMARILLO — Clovis High’s boys were never totally out of Monday afternoon’s game against Amarillo Tascosa until late.

Two of the Wildcats’ main problems this season have been rebounding and shooting. They held their own on the glass against a bigger Rebels squad, for the most part, but shooting remained an issue.

The Rebels pulled away over the final four minutes, outscoring the Cats 16-3 in the last period, and posted a 60-37 victory.

“I thought we did a lot of things well,” CHS boys coach Jaden Isler said. “We were outsized by a lot — rebounding has been one of our issues, but I thought we battled well on the glass.”

Tascosa (7-11) took control by outscoring Clovis 20-8 in the second period for a 13-point lead at the intermission. The Cats cut the margin to seven in the third period, but still trailed 44-34 after three.

“We had three or four late turnovers that just turned into layups,” Isler said of the final few minutes. “I thought if we could get it tight (early in the final stanza), they might tighten up a little bit. But, credit to them, they did a good job.”

Ashraf Barsham, a 6-foot-5 senior forward, scored 15 points for the Rebels, while junior guard Jeray Carr had 11 and junior forward Devayne Johnson 10.

“Barsham is a big, athletic kid, and he can handle the ball,” Isler said. “They’re more athletic than anybody we’ve seen this year, but I liked our fight.”

Senior guard Juan Hernandez had a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 10 points for the Cats, but no one else was able to come up with more than six.

The Cats have a busy week on tap, hosting Espanola Valley in a 4:30 p.m. start on Thursday at The Rock before playing at Santa Fe High on Saturday.