Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
HOBBS — The third time wasn’t quite the charm for the Clovis High boys basketball team Friday night.
Junior forward Jeff Taylor poured in 36 points and Hobbs pulled away in overtime for an 83-79 victory over the Wildcats in the District 4-5A tournament championship game.
The win was the 26th in a row for the Eagles (26-1) and their third over Clovis. The teams could meet again down the line in the state tournament.
The Cats (22-5) have lost only to Hobbs (three times) and top-ranked Rio Rancho (twice) this season. After the game, Hobbs coach Russ Gilmore lobbied for his team to be the No. 1 seed in the 16-team state tournament beginning next week.
“We’ve beaten Clovis three times, and they’re really, really good,” Gilmore said. “I’d put up our schedule against Rio Rancho’s any time.”
CHS coach J.D. Isler said he didn’t feel badly about how his team played in the game.
“We had a good game plan and we executed it well,” Isler said. “If we’d just had a couple of breaks, we would’ve beaten them.”
After playing two games in which the teams combined to average more than 90 points, Friday’s contest was different. It wasn’t the free-wheeling affair that the other games were, and the 3-pointers were few and far between — Hobbs had three while the Cats (22-5), who set a school record for 3-pointers in a season, managed just one.
Hobbs dominated the third quarter in each of the earlier matchups, but not this time. After playing to a 30-30 halftime tie, the Cats and Eagles exchanged the lead throughout a third quarter which ended with Hobbs in front 51-49.
The teams were neck-and-neck through the fourth quarter, which ended with the score 72-72. The Cats took a three-point lead early in the OT, but Taylor’s two free throws with 2:12 left put Hobbs in front for good 78-76.
Junior guard Bryce Hill hit an apparent game-tying 3-pointer with two seconds left, but he was ruled to have stepped out-of-bounds. Senior guard Nick Youmans added a clinching free throw with less than a second to go.
Senior post Michael Lewis led the Cats with 23 points before fouling out in OT, while junior guard Jaden Isler had 22 and Hill finished with 13.
Also in double figures for the Eagles were Youmans with 13 points and junior forward Allen Tate with 12.
Hobbs will play at home next week in the Class 5A state round of 16 while Clovis, which has lost only to the Eagles and Rio Rancho this season, are all but assured of a home game.
