Hope Christian avoids upset, tops Portales boys 58-56

PORTALES — Close but no cigar. That's how the Rams felt after nearly pulling off a big upset in their regular season finale at Ram Athletic Center on Saturday night.

However, their would-be game-winning shot attempt was no good, in a 58-56 loss to District 4-4A rival Hope Christian.

"We got a good look, we were able to run a play that we worked on and we got a pretty good look from the corner," Rams coach Rickie McBroom explained. "We told (Tyrese Dawson), you have time to catch and shoot, or catch and if you can get to the rim — but he couldn't get to the rim.

"He took a pretty good shot and we were glad to get that shot, and it just didn't go in."

Trailing 52-48, Portales (14-11, 4-4) cut it to two with an Austin Davis drive to the basket, before taking the lead on an Ethan Self corner 3, with 4:15 remaining. Hope (18-8, 8-0) quickly answered with a steal and lay-in by Chris Ward to regain the lead.

A Braden Bridges trey gave Portales the lead once more, but Ward quickly responded again, this time on a putback jumper. The game would remain tied at 56-all over the next couple minutes, as the Huskies took possession of the ball with 1:04, and tried to hold it for the last shot.

Ultimately, Johnnie Nitifan drove to the hoop and had a one-handed jumper to put the Huskies back in front, 58-56, with just 6.6 seconds to play. Following the basket, Portales inbounded the ball, but a clock malfunction stopped play with 5.0 to go, forcing the Rams to inbound along the sideline on Hope Christian's end of the court.

After the Rams came out of a timeout, the inbound was quickly passed off to Dawson, who attempted a corner 3 to win the game. However, he put just a little too much air on the shot, as the ball sailed over the hoop, preserving a close call victory for the Huskies.

"Portales did a great job, got back in the game. We had a little bit of a lead and they came in and made a good run on us, and it came down to who had the last possession," Huskies coach Jim Murphy said. "Overall, I was pleased to get a win on the road, (because that was a) big game for us."

The Rams had some defensive struggles in the first half, as Hope hit seven 3-pointers, and carried a 38-26 lead into the break. However, Portales limited the Huskies to just nine points in the third quarter, and in the process, finished the period on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to four points.

According to McBroom, making the switch from a man defense to a zone defense was key, as he wanted his team to defend "10 feet in," knowing that Hope was going to make some 3-point shots, one way or another.

For Portales, the narrow loss is a bit of a heartbreaker, as a win over a district champion means bonus points in state tournament seeding. Still, the close loss was a confidence boost considering the Rams traveled to Hope Christian on Jan. 30, and subsequently got throttled 76-41.

"It shows our kids that if we can really bear down, we can play with pretty much anybody in the state," McBroom explained. "But then we've been on the other side too, where we haven't been able to do that. I'm gonna be honest, in practice, our kids have been getting better and better. They've been working extremely hard, so this has been a process over the last four or five weeks."

Portales will open its district tournament at home 5:30 p.m. Tuesday against either Ruidoso or New Mexico Military Institute. Tuesday's winner will travel to Moriarty on Thursday, and that winner visits Hope Christian on Saturday.