Rams post sweep at Pojoaque

POJOAQUE – Portales High’s boys got a second consecutive blowout in Saturday’s finale of a three-game, six-team event hosted by Pojoaque.

Coming off wins over the host Elks (57-55) and Dulce (84-44) on Friday – first-day games were pushed back by Thursday’s snow in the northern part of the state – the Rams overwhelmed Monte Del Sol 65-16 to become the unofficial tournament champions as the meet’s lone unbeaten team.

Junior Paxton Culpeper scored 11 points and collected nine steals on Saturday en route to most valuable player honors in the event. Meantime, junior guard Jase Hightower had 10 of his 14 points in the first half for the Rams (7-0), who opened a 31-4 cushion on the overmatched Class 2A Dragons (1-6).

PHS boys coach Randy McBroom said he would have liked a tougher assignment.

“Those kind of games are what they are,” he said of the blowout win.

Junior Bradley Aguilar and sophomore Carson Pfaffenberger each had nine points for the Rams, ranked No. 1 in Class 4A this week by MaxPreps. Hightower and sophomore Carson Pfaffenberger were named to the all-tournament team.

Hightower had a team-high eight rebounds, and he and sophomore Ethan Crawford each delivered four assists.

Only four players scored for the Dragons, who got six points from junior Devin Moore and five from senior Shannon Moore.

Portales was to play at Lubbock Christian on Tuesday night. The Rams’ next outing comes against Taos in the quarterfinals of the Stu Clark Invitational next Wednesday at New Mexico Highlands in Las Vegas.

Lady Rams fall to Dulce – The PHS girls cruised through Friday’s quarterfinal and semifinal rounds at Pojoaque, but they weren’t quite ready for what hit them in Saturday’s championship game.

Dulce, a Class 2A school which came into the weekend with a 2-4 mark, pulled away with a 21-10 run in the final stanza and claimed the title in the eight-team event with a 57-41 win over the Lady Rams (4-2).

Senior Mattie Dale scored 17 points and senior Bailey Vigil added 15 for the Lady Hawks, who shot 14-for-21 from the foul line in the final stanza. For the game, they were 22-of-31 on gratis shots, compared with Portales’ 7-of-17.

“When you shoot like that, it’s hard to win,” PHS girls coach Wade Fraze said. “I hope it was just one of those nights. Hopefully, tonight made us better.”

Portales lost four players to fouls during a contest in which it never led. Junior guard Myleigh Banda had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Lady Rams, while junior guard Angel Ornelas was a stat-stuffer with nine points, 10 rebounds, four assists and six steals.

Junior post Evannie Fulfer, who had 10 rebounds and four steals, and senior forward Audrey Paden were both named to the all-tournament squad.

PHS played at Lubbock Christian on Tuesday night. The next outing for the Lady Rams is Dec. 27 at 8:30 a.m. (MST) in the opening round of Littlefield’s Wildcat Classic.