CHS teams trying not to peek ahead

The Clovis High basketball teams have to guard against looking ahead tonight.

The Wildcats and Lady Wildcats face showdowns on Friday against Hobbs with District 4-5A regular-season titles likely to be on the line. But before that takes place, they face Carlsbad tonight in 7 p.m. tipoffs — the girls here, the boys in Carlsbad.

Last week, Clovis handled games against Carlsbad with relative ease — the boys dominated the second half in a 72-34 rout at home, while the girls built a 25-point halftime lead en route to a 52-35 victory at Carlsbad.

The Lady Cats (16-5, 2-0 district), who edged Roswell High 42-39 Friday, can claim the 4-5A title with a win on Friday at Hobbs.

“We did a good job of taking care of business in the first round (of district),” CHS girls coach Miles Watters said.

Watters went mostly with subs in the second half at Carlsbad, but said the Cavegirls (5-18, 0-3) cannot be taken for granted.

“And I don’t think these kids will,” he said. “They’re looking forward to playing at home again.

“But they’re not a cakewalk. I’ll definitely remind the kids that Carlsbad’s looking to be a spoiler.”

Meantime, the CHS boys (20-3, 1-1) held a 33-21 halftime lead over the Cavemen (10-14, 0-3) before going on a 30-6 third-quarter blitz. Cats coach J.D. Isler said the Cavemen’s 6-foot-4 junior forward Jose Cruz Lopez caused the Cats some problems around the basket at times in the first meeting.

Isler also noted point guard Zack Mendez did not play in last week’s game for an undisclosed reason.

Still, he added he’s not that concerned about a lapse in focus.

“These kids are pretty level-headed,” Isler said. “They don’t seem to have a lot of ups and downs.

“I think a key is for us to go in and play well early. We don’t want to give them any confidence.”

Clovis is coming off two wins over the weekend — 70-58 at Roswell High on Friday and 82-48 at home on Saturday against Portales.