Rams hold on down stretch, top Los Alamos

Style points were probably a bit in short supply on Monday night.

No matter. Portales High's boys escaped, holding on late to edge Los Alamos 49-45 in their season opener at the Ram Athletic Center.

Leading 21-17 at halftime, the Rams built a 12-point lead with an 18-10 surge in the third stanza. Meantime, the visiting Hilltoppers (0-2) returned the favor with the same advantage in the final frame, pulling within a point with just over a minute left.

"We were fighting to execute all night," said Rams coach Ty Thatcher after pulling out his debut with the program. "Once we got into the bench a little bit, we lost a little rhythm."

Junior forward Carson Pfaffenberger scored eight of his game-high 13 points in the third quarter, including a pair of 3-point plays, but drew a technical late in the period and sat out the final frame. Sophomore forward Pierce Culpepper added 11 points as nine Rams contributed to the scoring column.

Junior forward Lan Frazier paced the Hilltoppers with 12 points.

PHS overcame early foul trouble, with senior starting guards Jase Hightower and Joel Lujan relegated to the bench early in the second period. Lujan made 3-of-4 free throws late to help the Rams hold on.

"It was pretty good," senior guard Elijah Tellez said. "We have a lot still to work on, but once we get to that level we'll be able to perform better."

Portales scored just 10 points over the final 9 ½ minutes after a free throw from junior guard Patrick Alvarado made it 39-23. In the end, the Rams' size advantage with the 6-foot-7 Culpepper and the 6-5 Pfaffenberger was a little too much for the smaller Hilltoppers to overcome.

"I thought it was a good game for us to bounce back," said Los Alamos coach D.J. Bustos, who team absorbed an 80-30 home thrashing from Class 5A Rio Rancho in its opener. "We didn't expect to go out and perform the way we did (against Rio Rancho).

"I didn't expect (the Rams) to be as big as they were. Their length gave us some problems, but hopefully it'll be learning experience for us."

A 3-pointer by junior guard Calvin Sisneros gave the Hilltoppers their only lead (3-2). Culpepper knocked down a 3 on the next trip and junior guard Ethan Crawford's basket made it 7-3 midway through the quarter.

Both teams struggled mightily in the second segment. There were no field goals over the final 6:25 of the half and the Rams had 10 turnovers in the period, but they managed to cling to the lead at the break.

"We had a good lead (early)," Tellez said. "They started to come back, so we had to play harder."

The Rams opened the third quarter with Pfaffenberger's two 3-point plays and a lane jumper from Culpepper to go up 29-17. Threes by Sisneros and senior guard Issac Manzanares early in the fourth helped Los Alamos get back into it.

"I think some guys shot the ball OK," Thatcher said. "We put an emphasis in practice on being able to hit some shots out of offensive sets. Late in the game, we took some bad shots."

The Rams are off now until playing in the Farwell Invitational Dec. 12-14. They open with Panhandle, then play Littlefield and the host Steers on the final two days of the event.