Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Staff photo: Tony Bullocks Clovis senior guard Tristen Pautler is met at midcourt by Amarillo Tascosa sophomore guard Curry Price during the first half of Tuesday’s boys matchup at Rock Staubus Gym. Pautler finished with three 3-pointers and 11 points, but the Wildcats dropped a 76-44 decision to the Rebels.
Staff photo: Tony Bullocks Clovis junior Tucker Dobbs goes over Amarillo Tascosa senior Chris Docrue during the first half of Tuesday’s game. Dobbs finished with nine points.
Sports writer
It didn’t take Amarillo Tascosa’s Ethan Colley long to take Clovis High’s boys out of Tuesday’s game.
Staff photo: Tony Bullocks
Clovis senior guard Tristen Pautler is met at midcourt by Amarillo Tascosa sophomore guard Curry Price during the first half of Tuesday’s boys matchup at Rock Staubus Gym. Pautler finished with three 3-pointers and 11 points, but the Wildcats dropped a 76-44 decision to the Rebels.
The Rebels senior guard drained three consecutive 3-pointers in the final 90 seconds of the first half, capping a 17-0 run that allowed Tascosa to cruise to a 76-44 win in the Wildcats’ home opener at The Rock.
Colley finished with 18 points on six 3-pointers, five coming in the first half, as the Rebels improved to 8-1 for the season.
“Ethan Colley has really stepped up his game in knocking down that shot for us,” Rebels coach Steve Jackson said. “The guys are doing a good job of drawing his man out and then finding him.”
Junior Quinn Taylor also had 18 points and sophomore Darreus Brown 12 for the Rebels, who led 16-15 when they took off in the final 4 1/2 minutes of the half.
“We were battling and we were right there,” CHS coach Scott Robinson said. “At that point, the floodgates opened.”
The teams battled on relatively even terms in the third period, but the Cats (1-2) simply ran out of gas down the stretch and the athletic Rebels finished the contest on a 24-7 run.
Senior guards Logan Cole and Tristen Pautler led Clovis with 12 and 11 points, respectively, combining for five 3-pointers. But the Cats turned the ball over 31 times and missed numerous makeable shots around the basket.
Staff photo: Tony Bullocks
Clovis junior Tucker Dobbs goes over Amarillo Tascosa senior Chris Docrue during the first half of Tuesday’s game. Dobbs finished with nine points.
“We were able to come out in the first (quarter) and into the second all right,” Robinson said, “but in the fourth quarter we were spent.
“Turnovers are still a problem. We’ve got to (take care of the ball) and take some pressure off our defense.”
The Cats were without junior forward-center Devin Roberts, who sustained a concussion in Saturday’s 56-49 win over Borger at Portales, and Cory Knight, who had the flu. Also, sophomore guard Micah Gray is yet to be cleared after sustaining a collarbone injury late in the football season.
Senior Kaine Bender, who sustained an ACL injury in football, played the final minute or so for the Cats and finished with two points and a couple of rebounds. He will have season-ending surgery on Tuesday, Robinson said.
Tascosa is preparing for a weekend tournament in the Dallas area in which Jackson thinks the Rebels will find out a lot about themselves.
“We like to go down to the Metroplex and see where we need to be,” he said. “If we can compete with those teams, we feel like we’re going in the right direction.”
He said the Cats gave the Rebels some problems in stretches.
“The Clovis kids did a good job,” he said. “They stayed with their game and continued to fight. I don’t think the (final) score is indicative of how they played.”
Meantime, CHS faces Hope Christian in a 1:15 p.m. quarterfinal game on Thursday in the Albuquerque Academy Classic.
“We’ll have our hands full with them,” Robinson said.
