Rams cruise to victories in final non-district tilts

Portales High’s boys got the sour taste of defeat from Monday night out of their mouths with back-to-back home wins. Now it’s on to District 4-4A competition.

Six-foot-4 sophomore Carson Pfaffenberger posted a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds and the Rams cruised to a 62-34 victory over New Mexico Military on Thursday night at the RAC.

PHS (13-7), ranked eighth this week in Class 4A by MaxPreps, will now have a full week to get ready for Friday’s district opener at Roswell Goddard, and the Rams are hopeful of big things.

“We match up well with everybody in our district,” Pfaffenberger said. “If we play like we did tonight, we ought to get the job done.”

Junior guards Jase Hightower and Joel Lujan added 14 and 12, respectively, as Portales broke the game open with a 21-0 run spanning the second and third quarters. Hightower added five rebounds and five assists, while Lujan was credited with seven steals.

The Roswell-based Class 3A Colts (9-6), who scored half their points in the fourth quarter, have done most of their damage this season against Class 1A and 2A competition. NMMI cut a 19-4 deficit early in the second frame to nine points twice midway through the stanza, but then went more than eight minutes without scoring as the Rams opened a 30-point lead.

“They’re a good team,” Rams coach Randy McBroom said. “We prepared for them like we do every other team, and they (Rams) were locked in. That’s what we want going into district next week.

“Everything we do for the next five days is going to be geared toward (the district).”

An 87-79 neutral-court loss to Gallup on Monday night was deflating, but PHS rebounded with dominating home wins against Ruidoso on Tuesday and NMMI.

“I think we bounced back really well,” Pfaffenberger said of Tuesday’s game. “We were all tired and sore, but we played through it.”

Senior center Matthew McCargish and junior guard Jacob Hayes led the Colts with 11 and nine points, respectively, but combined for 15 of them in the final canto.

Portales 59, Ruidoso 41 (Tuesday) – Coming off a loss to Gallup the night before, the Rams jumped out to a 16-point halftime lead against Ruidoso at the RAC and won handily as four players scored in double digits.

Junior forward Paxton Culpepper tallied 11 of his game-high 17 points in the first half for the Rams, while Hightower added 13. Meantime, Pfaffenberger posted 10 of his 12 points in the opening two stanzas, and Lujan chipped in 11.

“We played much better on both ends of the floor,” McBroom said. “The guys did a good job of bouncing back; they were locked in. To control the game on both ends of the floor was outstanding.”

Senior guard Logan Sandoval led the Warriors (8-9) with 13 points and junior center Patrick Kimbrell added 10.