Eagles subdue Clovis

CLOVIS - It's a long way from a win, but Clovis High's boys tried to go toe-to-toe with Hobbs on Friday night at Rock Staubus Gym.

The Wildcats certainly made the Eagles play a little harder than they expected. In the end, there were just too many shooters and too many athletes as Hobbs pulled away to an 85-60 District 4-5A victory.

By comparison, when the teams met at Hobbs on Jan. 28, the Eagles cruised to a 96-29 triumph.

"I thought the last two games, we've fought harder defensively than we have most of the year," Cats coach Jaden Isler said, also referring to a 46-41 loss to Carlsbad on Feb. 8 at The Rock. "There were big turnarounds in both of them. Obviously, Hobbs has two of the top scorers in the state (in senior guard Jalen Goar and senior center Aaron Mora)."

Both averaging just under 21 ppg, Goar tallied 25 points and Mora 22 in this one as the Cats (4-21, 1-4 district) had no answers for them.

They made it a game for a while, though. Senior guard Luciano Webster kept Clovis in it early, scoring their first seven points, and the Cats trimmed a nine-point deficit at the quarter to 26-23 with 5 1/2 minutes left in the half on Webster's driving layup.

At that point, the Eagles (23-2, 5-0 district) - ranked third in Class 5A - finished the stanza on a 25-10 run capped by senior Ronnie Ross' 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"I thought our shot selection (during that stretch) fed into the way they (Eagles) want to play," Isler said.

Still, the 33 points at halftime were more than the Cats scored the entire game at Hobbs.

Eagles coach Shelby Reeves said he had plenty to talk to his team about at halftime.

"It was sloppy on our part," he said of the first half. "It was a sloppy game for us.

"We played hard, but I'm a defensive guy; these days, everybody wants to score."

Hobbs' biggest lead was 31 points midway through the fourth period.

"Clovis came out and played hard," Reeves said. "They've got a good coaching staff, and they had them prepared.

"They tried to pressure our guards, but we have a lot of stuff we can run. When you have a lot of guys who can score, it makes it tough for the opponent."

Ross added 10 points for the Eagles off the bench, all in the first half. Meantime, Webster scored all but three of his 17 points in the first half, while sophomore guard Manuel Gutierrez added 12 points and junior forward R.J. Nora had 10.

"Lucy's playing really well," Isler said. "I think he's had a pretty good second half of the season."

Clovis finishes district and regular-season play at Roswell High on Friday night. Two of the Cats' wins this season, including one in their holiday tournament at The Rock, came at the expense of the Coyotes (6-19, 0-5).

Roswell High lost at Carlsbad 49-31 on Friday night. If the Cats win, they would host the Coyotes in the opening district tournament game on Feb. 22.

"They played Carlsbad pretty well tonight," Isler said. "They're a young team that's getting better. But we want to be able to get one game with the homecourt advantage in the district tournament."