Organ Mountain dominates in win over Cats 68-51

In a word, the Clovis High boys basketball team simply didn’t have it on Saturday.

Coming off a hard-fought win the night before at Portales, the Wildcats struggled virtually all game against Class 5A No. 2 Organ Mountain, trailing by 26 points early in the fourth quarter and absorbing a 68-51 shellacking at the hands of the Knights at Rock Staubus Gym.

Organ Mountain junior guard Lenny Washington hit two free throws with five seconds left in the opening frame to break a 15-15 tie, and the Knights never looked back.

“I thought we had a really good shootaround (on Saturday morning), but I’m not very happy with the effort of some of our guys,” Cats coach Josh Mattox said. “Until we get consistent effort from everybody on the team, we’re going to struggle on days like this.”

Clovis (12-5) was hoping to beat the No. 2 team in 5A for the second time in a week – they dispatched Santa Fe High 58-55 in overtime on the road on Jan. 7 – but it simply was not to be.

Six-foot-3 senior guard YehNhi Wilson took control of the game in the second half and led three Knights in double figures with 16 points.

Third-year Organ Mountain coach Rocky Gonzales said the Cats just had an off-day.

“I thought our defense is what carried us,” he said. “I feel like we got some good offense out of our defense, and we were able to knock down some open jumpers in the second half.”

Organ Mountain (12-1), winning its 11th in a row, took the lead seven seconds in on a 3-point play by 6-foot-5 senior forward Brandon Kehres. Senior J.J. Jones knocked down a 3 on the Cats’ first possession, but Washington promptly scored and other than the 15-15 tie late in the first the Knights stayed in front.

Sophomore guard Emmitt McDaniel’s 3-pointer as time ran out in the half made it 29-18, and the margin stayed in double digits the rest of the way.

“When I came here we wanted to be a defense-first team,” Gonzales said. “I think now we’re starting to see that a little bit more.”

The Cats struggled against Knights pressure, finishing with 25 turnovers – all but one coming in the first three cantos.

“We just couldn’t stop turning the ball over,” Mattox said. “If I watched film on us, I’d press us too.”

Junior guard/forward Ray Venegas added 14 points and Kehres finished with 11 for Organ Mountain, whose only loss came at home to top-ranked Volcano Vista 63-43 on Dec. 9.

Junior Jayden Cox and sophomore Max Roche each had 11 points for the Cats. Roche returned on Friday at Portales after missing 13 games due to a knee injury.

The Cats are back in action twice this weekend, hosting Alamogordo on Friday night at the Rock and visiting Albuquerque to take on Atrisco Heritage on Saturday.