Cats knock off Coyotes for third

CLOVIS – The level of competition wasn’t quite the same, but Clovis High’s boys left their K. Barnett & Sons holiday tournament on Thursday night with a little better feeling about themselves.

Junior forward Marvin Cox led three players in double figures with 14 points and the Wildcats never trailed en route to a 66-52 win over District 4-5A rival Roswell High in the tourney’s third-place game.

A night earlier, Clovis (6-4) fell behind 23-3 early in the second quarter before recovering a bit in a 75-57 championship semifinal loss to Class 5A third-ranked Sandia.

The Cats held Roswell High (4-7) to just four first-half field goals, and no 3-pointers for the game. The Coyotes stayed as close they did primarily because of 18-for-23 free throw shooting.

“We played a lot better today,” Cats coach Josh Mattox said. “Our mistakes didn’t stand out as much, but I like how we played together more.

“I thought we were pretty aggressive early, but we needed o do a better job of defending without fouling.

The game was tied 2-2 early, but the Cats scored the next eight points, getting 3-pointers from senior guards Manny Gutierrez and Brian Weiss. CHS made all six of its 3s for the game in the first half in building a 31-19 advantage.

“It felt like we started the game off good,” said Gutierrez, who finished with a pair of 3s and eight points. “We got out front quickly and kept the lead.”

Cox helped the Cats keep control of the boards. Meantime, Weiss finished with 13 points and junior guard Keilyn Parker came off the bench for 11 as nine Clovis players scored.

Roswell High tried to mount comebacks throughout, but the Coyotes were never able to get closer than nine points in the second half. Clovis led by as much as 20 points during that time.

“We knew they were going to go on runs,” Gutierrez said. “We just had to slow it down.”

Senior forward Ivan Miramontes didn’t score in the first quarter, but finished with eight of Roswell High’s 17 field goals en route to a game-high 20 points. Junior post Steve McCaskill added 16, including 12-of-13 free throws.

“We were able to get going a little more in the second half,” Mattox said. “That’s kind of our M.O. The way they were shooting free throws, it could’ve been a lot closer if we weren’t hitting shots.”

Gutierrez said the Sandia loss was an eye-opener for his squad. The Cats and Matadors (9-2), who lost to top-ranked Volcano Vista 48-44 in Thursday’s championship tilt, are slated to meet again on Jan. 10 in Albuquerque.

“Sandia was a good test for us early,” he said. “We kind of felt that if we didn’t start so slow, it could’ve been a different game.”

Junior forward Champ Gooden, who scored a team-high 17 points in the loss to Sandia, was the Cats’ lone representative on the all-tournament squad.

The Cats return to action next week in the Coe Porn tournament, hosted by Roswell High and Roswell Goddard. Clovis faces Los Alamos at Goddard in a 6 p.m. quarterfinal tilt on Tuesday.