EPAC boys: Foxes fend off Longhorns

Elida’s Thomas West looks for a teammate while trapped under the basket by Texico’s 6-foot-3 John Schueler. (Staff photo: Mike Linn)

TEXICO — Seeded No. 1 in the 4A bracket of the EPAC Tournament, Fort Sumner’s hopes for a shot at the championship almost came crashing down against scrappy Logan on Wednesday.

Junior forward Jeremy Guana scored 22 points and the Foxes made enough free throws — barely — to hold off the Longhorns 55-52 in a quarterfinal game.

The Foxes (8-2) led most of the way, but the Longhorns (4-6) never got too far behind and turned the game into a scramble at the end.

“We actually needed a game like that,” said Guana, whose personal high of 28 points came earlier this season against Valley Christian in a tournament at Dexter. “We had a long Christmas break.

“I think I can play a lot better than I did tonight. Scoring isn’t really the main thing, as long as we get the ‘W.’”

Both teams struggled mightily from the free throw line — Fort Sumner went 14 of 30, Logan 13 of 31.

That hasn’t been our strong suit, although we’ve had some good games,” first-year Foxes coach Wes Weems said. “We haven’t got that part of the game down yet.”

With the score tied 52-52 and just over a minute left, Ross Cortese went 1-for-2 twice on the free throw line and Matt Sena added another charity toss with 16 seconds to go. Logan’s Drew Perez then missed two free throws with seven seconds left — the second on purpose — but the Longhorns secured the loose rebound and missed two desperation 3-pointers in the remaining time.

“We played well at times tonight, but we missed some easy opportunities,” Logan coach Billy Burns said. “(Fort Sumner’s) really good, and I thought they played well tonight.”

Junior Ryan Fikany added 12 points for Fort Sumner, while junior Jake Abercrombie came off the bench to score 16 points and junior Saul Acosta added 12 for Logan. All three of those players fouled out in the final quarter.

EPAC scoreboard

Boys

Wednesday

Quarterfinals

Fort Sumner 55, Logan 52

Texico 65, Elida 51

Thursday

Consolation

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

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

Logan vs. Elida, 8:15 p.m., new gym