Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
ROSWELL — Wins have been hard to come by this season for Clovis High’s boys.
Thursday night, it looked like the Wildcats might pick off Roswell Goddard for the second time in three games.
Tied 21-21 at halftime, the Cats struck for the first eight points of the third quarter. But Goddard pulled even again by the end of the period and went on to a 53-44 victory.
Two nights earlier, at The Rock, Clovis pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Rockets 54-49.
Goddard won the season series from the Cats 2-1, having also notched a 62-61 win over Clovis (3-16) in the seventh-place game of Albuquerque Academy’s Joe Armijo Invitational in early December.
“The three games we’ve played have all been similar,” Clovis coach Jaden Isler said. “Whichever team got to about the middle of the fourth quarter with a lead, they were able to hang on.”
The Cats led for much of the first three segments, but Goddard (9-9) pulled even 35-35 at quarter’s end. Then senior guard Jameel Cannon banked in a 3-pointer to start the final stanza, putting the Rockets in front for good.
“We really missed some inside shots that could’ve kept it close,” Isler said.
Senior forward Noah Reese had a pair of 3-pointers and 20 points for Goddard, while Cannon drained four treys en route to 14 points. Meantime, junior R.J. Nora led the Cats with 13 points.
On Tuesday, the Cats limited Reese to 12 points.
“We did a good job on him on Tuesday, just limiting his touches,” Isler said. “But tonight (Thursday), I didn’t think we were very sharp on defense.”
Four players scored in double figures for Clovis in Tuesday’s win — junior guard Brian Weiss with 14 points and Nora, senior guard Juan Hernandez and senior center Andrew Hall with 11 points apiece.
Clovis led by two at the quarter and at halftime, and the game was tied going into the final segment.
Senior forward Damian Aragon also had 12 points for Goddard, while senior guard Elijah Quiroz added 11.
Clovis was scheduled to play at Lovington on Saturday afternoon. The Cats open District 4-5A action on Tuesday at Carlsbad.
Clovis, Portales schedule changes — The CHS girls had a pair of contests wiped out this week — Tuesday at Goddard and Friday at home against Portales. The game against the Lady Rams has been moved to 6 p.m. next Saturday at The Rock, while a decision hasn’t been reached on the Goddard matchup.
Meantime, Portales had its home doubleheader last Tuesday against Texico moved to Saturday, Feb. 12 at the Ram Athletic Center — girls at 5:30 p.m., boys at 7 p.m. A Thursday boys game at Dexter was postponed, to be rescheduled if possible, while a boys game slated for Friday night at New Mexico Military has now been moved to 7 p.m. on Monday.
