Rams roll to victory over Taos

LAS VEGAS, N.M. — Seniors Chris Carter and Bo Gabriel combined for nearly half the points and the Portales Rams made short work of Taos on Tuesday, rolling over the Tigers 48-30 in the consolation semifinals of the 51st Stu Clark Classic at New Mexico Highlands University.

Carter scored 12 points and Gabriel added 11 for the Rams (5-6), who will play West Las Vegas for fifth place at 2:30 p.m. today.

Portales started slowly against Santa Fe High in Monday’s quarterfinals, losing a 62-56 decision to the Demons. They had no such problems against Taos.

“We came out and pressed and got going a little quicker,” Rams coach Mark Gallegos said.

“We were able to play quite a few kids.”

Portales led 22-11 at halftime, and expanded the margin to 19 points by the end of the third quarter with the help of two 3-pointers from Carter.

Gallegos singled out senior Chris Kirchner, who despite scoring just three points made notable contributions in other areas. He grabbed four rebounds, dished out three assists, had three steals and took a pair of charges.

“Those are things you can’t measure what it does for our basketball team,” Gallegos said. “Those stats don’t show up in the scorebook.”

Portales’ defense was solid throughout, holding Taos to just eight field goals, including four 3-pointers. No one scored in double figures for the Tigers.

Portales 48, Taos 30

Taos — Rael 3 1-3 9, Serrano 2 1-2 7, Sanchez 1 3-8 5, Mitchell 0 1-4 1, Anaya 1 0-0 2, Gonzales 0 2-2 2, Cordova 1 0-0 3, Martinez 0 1-2 1. Totals 8 9-21 30.

Portales (5-5) — Chris Carter 4 1-2 12, Bo Gabriel 5 0-0 11, Jack Hale 3 1-3 7, Daniel Boan 1 0-0 2, Chris Adkins 1 1-2 3, Trevor Ferguson 0 1-2 1, Chris Kirchner 1 1-2 3, Daniel Aranda 3 0-0 6, Cruz Ontiveros 1 1-3 3. Totals 19 6-14 48.

Taos 6 5 10 9 — 30

Portales 12 10 18 8 — 48

3-pointers — Taos (5): Rael 2, Serrano 2, Cordova. Portales (4): Carter 3, Gabriel.

Stu Clark Tournament

At Las Vegas, N.M.

Monday’s quarterfinals

Capital 73, Bernalillo 55

Santa Fe High 62, Portales 56

Espanola 56, West Las Vegas 37

Las Vegas Robertson 59, Taos 56, 2 OT

Tuesday’s semifinals

Consolation bracket

Portales 48, Taos 30

Bernalillo 86, West Las Vegas 62

Championship bracket

Capital 70, Espanola 29

Santa Fe 79, Las Vegas Robertson 44

Wednesday’s finals

Taos vs. West Las Vegas (7th), 1 p.m.

Portales vs. Bernalillo (5th), 2:30 p.m.

Robertson vs. Espanola (3rd), 6 p.m.

Santa Fe vs. Capital (championship), 7:30 p.m.