Hobbs squads triumph over Cats, Lady Cats

CLOVIS – Clovis High's boys show flashes of their potential on Friday night. The problem is trying to do things with more consistency.

Against a team like Hobbs, 18 turnovers and only eight points from anyone not named Marvin Cox in the first half left the Wildcats well short of what they needed.

To their credit, CHS battled hard and made their rival have to play a little after the intermission, but it was nowhere near enough in a District 4-5A-opening 74-58 loss to the Eagles at Rock Staubus Gym.

Outside of Cox, who posted a season-best 27 points and came up with a pile of rebounds and several blocked shots, the Cats were simply no match for an Eagles squad which appears to be significantly better than its current 11-10 record would suggest.

Senior guard Michael Mackey poured in 30 points, and he, sophomore guard Abraham Pena (19) and freshman guard Braylon Vega (13) combined for all but 12 of the Eagles' tallies.

First-year Clovis coach Josh Mattox said that while the Cats have talent, they have to learn to play together.

"We can't get the teammate stuff figured out," he said. "We'll either start well and not finish it off, or start slow and not be able to come back."

The Cats (10-10) got a 3-point basket from junior forward J.J. Jones on the first possession of the game, and were tied 8-8 after a 3-point play by Cox nearly four minutes in. Buit the Eagles scored the next nine points en route to a 17-1 run, and they never relinquished control.

"We'll play well sometimes in a half, but we're still trying to put a full game together," Hobbs boys coach Shelby Reeves said. "Sometimes, we'll get up and we don't know how to keep a lead."

The Eagles were a bit sloppy at times in the second half. After building a 26-point cushion three minutes into the third segment, they lost their rhythm and the Cats put together a nice run to get within 60-47 after three on a buzzer-beating corner 3 from Cox.

But they managed only one free throw in the first five minutes of the final stanza, and Hobbs eventually built its lead back to 20.

Mattox said Cox probably had his best game of the season.

"We've been waiting on that for a while," Mattox said. "I think it was his most solid all-around game."

Reeves said the Cats are capable of beating a lot of teams.

"I think coach (Mattox) is doing a great job with them," he said. "They play hard, and any time you play hard great things can happen."

The Cats return to action in district play on Friday night at Roswell High.

Hobbs 61, Clovis girls 14 – Coming in with a 12-game winning streak, the Lady Wildcats found out why Hobbs has a great chance to win a Class 5A state title this year after back-to-back runnerup finishes.

Only three players scored for Clovis (16-4) – junior guard Zarai Lewis with eight, junior reserve Aspen Ulibarri with four and junior guard Martha De La Rosa with two. The Lady Cats went scoreless in the second quarter to trail 32-6 at the half, and finished with five 2-point field goals and four free throws.

"We didn't have a lot of discipline tonight," CHS coach Jeff Reed said. "We had way too many turnovers and we didn't run our offense very well."

Sophomore guards Brynn Hargrove and Nakia Mojica led the Lady Eagles (18-2) with 14 and 13 points, respectively. Reed said Hobbs is probably the odds-on favorite in 5A despite losing senior guard Wisdom Anthony, probably the team's best player, to an early-season injury.

The Lady Cats host Roswell High on Friday night at The Rock.