Cats roll past Tascosa for second win

Clovis senior Bud Willis tries to get around Tascosa’s Tony Lance during the fourth quarter of Friday’s game in Amarillo. Photo by Eric Kluth

AMARILLO — While waiting for several cohorts who are still playing football, the Clovis High boys basketball team is making things look pretty easy so far.

Senior Justin Pinckney scored 19 points and junior Dominique Easterlin worked around foul trouble to add 17 as the Wildcats improved to 2-0 on Friday night with a 64-42 drubbing of Tascosa.

The Cats built a 17-6 lead at the quarter, and fought off one charge by the Rebels (1-1) before pulling away to their second comfortable win of the week.

“We really played smart tonight,” CHS coach J.D. Isler said. “We played real well on the boards; we did a good job of blocking out” against a bigger Tascosa squad.

Clovis opened the second half with a 9-2 run in just over two minutes for a 43-22 bulge. Tascosa then began to find the range from long distance, getting two 3-pointers from Kellen Morgan and one from Jason Harris to pull to 45-33 midway through the period.

The Cats answered that with a 9-4 surge, including sophomore Jordan Moore’s 3-pointer, and carried a 17-point margin into the final period.

“We knew there would be runs and (we’d face) a little adversity,” Isler said. “We knew we had to handle it, and I thought we did a good job of that tonight.

“I thought (senior point guard) Bud Willis had a nice game; he ran our team well. But it takes all of them, and everyone is contributing.”

Morgan finished with 16 points for the Rebels, and Josh Spencer added 10.

The Cats do not play again until Dec. 4-6, when they return to Amarillo for the Amarillo Kids Inc. Tournament. Isler, noting the team is nursing a few minor nicks, said the time off from game action should be beneficial.

“It’ll help us to heal up,” he said.