Grady gets past Floyd

TEXICO — The last time Jim Kneipp coached a Grady team in an EPAC tournament, the opponents had names such as Causey on the jersey and the games were played at Portales High School.

On Tuesday, Kneipp saw another raucous, old-fashioned see-saw game — played in the former main gymnasium at Texico — with his Bronchos finally able to scoot past Floyd 56-53.

In the first-round EPAC boys basketball contest, Grady (5-5) trailed 53-50 with just less than two minutes to play when Floyd’s Jerrod Long hit a basket for the final two of a 30-point night.

Floyd (6-5), however, was unable to hold on down the stretch. Grady’s Colt Grau scored with 1:15 left to cut the Broncos’ lead to one. Junior Robert Windham tied the game on a free throw with 46 seconds remaining.

Windham made the biggest play of the night following his free throw, stealing a Floyd pass and feeding Domingo Diaz for layup with 22 seconds left that put Grady up 55-53.

“They passed it to him (Long) every time during the game. I knew where it was going,” Windham said. “I was worried about my pass. I didn’t think he (Diaz) was going to catch it down there.”

“It was fun. They beat us 40 last year — our kids are just trying to learn how to win a little bit,” said Kneipp, who coached at Grady in 1971 and 1972. “I thought we played extremely well down the stretch.”

Long, who drained three 3-pointers in the game, had a final chance to draw his team. Fouled on an attempted 3-pointer with 11 seconds left, Long missed the first two of his free throw attempts. After Long intentionally missed the third, Grau blocked out Floyd’s Eric Padilla and drew a foul. One more Floyd foul led to a free throw from Steven Carter with five seconds left for the final margin.

Grady was led by Jarrod Lindsey’s 22 points, while Grau (12 points) and Windham (11) also scored in double-figures for the Bronchos. Floyd, meanwhile, also got 10 points from Bryan Johnson to supplement Long’s output.

Elida 63, San Jon 45 — Freshman Wesley Gilmore scored 22 points and junior Thomas West added 17 as the Tigers (7-5) advanced to an 8:15 p.m. quarterfinal game today against host Texico (9-0).

Elida stretched a five-point lead at the quarter to 28-16 at halftime and was never threatened by the Coyotes (2-5). The Tigers led by 24 points late in the third quarter.

Trey Rusk scored 16 points and Jarred Archuleta added 15 for San Jon.

Logan 65, Dora 60 — The Longhorns (4-5) built an eight-point lead at the quarter and held off the Coyotes in a game which featured 76 free throws.

Logan got 18 points from junior Jake Abercrombie and 10 from junior Marshall Graham in avenging an earlier loss to the Coyotes (4-8) in a tournament at Clayton.

Junior Brent Hays led four Dora players in double figures with 17 points. Juniors Tyler Wilhoit and J.R. Gonzales added 12 each and sophomore Casey O’Connor chipped in 10.

Logan 65, Dora 60

Dora (4-8) — Travis Belcher 1, Payton Terry 2, Tyler Wilhoit 12, J.R. Gonzales 12, Clay Smith 2, Casey O’Connor 10, Brent Hays 17, Austin Prewett 4. Totals 17 22-40 60.

Logan (4-5) — Wes James 1, Drew Perez 5, John Maestes 2, Todd May 5, Saul Acosta 8, J.D. Estrada 8, Jake Abercrombie 18, Josh Franco 8, Marshall Graham 10. Totals 23 19-36 65.

Dora 11 19 11 19 — 60

Logan 19 17 13 16 — 65

3-pointers — Dora (4): O’Connor 2, Gonzales, Hays. Logan: none.

Elida 63, San Jon 45

San Jon (2-5) — Tyler Foster 2, Trey Rusk 16, Richard Vasquez 3, Danny Shetter 7, Albert Hood 1, Jarred Archuleta 15, Chase Tillman 1. Totals 14 17-32 45.

Elida (7-5) — Dylan Radcliff 8, Clayton Ford 3, Ever Varela 3, Thomas West 17, Trenton Chenault 7, Wesley Gilmore 22, Caleb Widener 1, Aaron Roberts 2. Totals 23 14-26 63.

San Jon 8 8 11 18 — 45

Elida 13 15 20 15 — 63

3-pointers — San Jon: none. Elida (3): Gilmore 2, Chenault.

Grady 56, Floyd 53

Floyd (6-5) — Kyle Kropf 7, Bryan Johnson 10, Jerrod Long 30, Eric Padilla 2, Brad Lee 4. Totals 22 6-13 53.

Grady (5-5) — Jarrod Lindsey 22, Colt Grau 12, Steven Carter 5, Robert Windham 11, Domingo Diaz 6. Totals 24 6-8 56.

Floyd 10 19 13 11 — 53

Grady 14 16 8 18 — 56

3-pointers — Floyd (3): Long 3. Grady (2): Windham 2.

EPAC Tournament

At Texico

Boys

Tuesday’s games

Game 3: Logan 65, Dora 60

Game 4: Elida 63, San Jon 45

Game 7: Grady 56, Floyd 53

Game 8: Melrose 74, House 26

Wednesday’s games

Game 10: Fort Sumner vs. Logan, 4:45 p.m., new gym

Game 11: Texico vs. Elida, 8:15 p.m., new gym

Thursday’s games

Game 15: Dora vs. Floyd, 4:45 p.m., old gym

Game 16: House vs. San Jon, 4:45 p.m, new gym

Game 18: Game 10 loser vs. Game 11 loser, 8:15 p.m., new gym

Friday’s games

Game 20: Game 15 loser vs. Game 16 loser, 12:45 p.m., new gym

Game 23: Game 10 winner vs. Grady (semifinals), 6 p.m., new gym

Game 24: Melrose vs. Game 12 winner (semifinals), 7:45 p.m., new gym