Cats fall in OT in consolation semifinals

Staff report

ALBUQUERQUE — The Clovis Wildcats are showing signs of improvement. But the final result was still the same, as Los Lunas upended the Wildcats 54-48 in overtime Friday at the Joe Armijo Classic, hosted by Albuquerque Academy.

Kayden Walker scored 14 for Los Lunas (1-3), which outscored Clovis 11-5 in the extra session despite only hitting one field goal.

Clovis (1-4) has lost three straight, but had lost the first two games of the skid by a combined 77 points.

“There are things we’re getting better at,” Wildcats coach Scott Robinson said. “It’s obviously still a work in progress on the defensive end. I thought, offensively, we tried to do some of the things we talked about.”

But there was plenty for the Wildcats to point at as to how the Tigers scored the victory, including a 14-of-15 second-half performance from the line while Clovis went 3-for-10 for the game, and a significant advantage on the boards.

“If we rebound the ball, especially in the fourth quarter, we probably win the game by 10 points,” Robinson said. “There were several possessions in the fourth quarter, we would get a stop and force them into a bad shot, and we couldn’t get the rebound.”

Tristen Pautler scored 19 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, while Eli Rodriguez added 10 for Clovis.

“He shot the ball well,” Robinson said of Pautler. “It wasn’t anything necessarily that we did. We ran a few sets for him to get shots, but for the most part it was him attacking the basket.

“(Rodriguez is) coming along really well. He’s doing a good job getting to the basket, getting some good shots for himself. He’s turning down jump shots for himself on the perimeter, and he’s really got a knack for getting to the basket.”

The Wildcats will close out the tournament against host Albuquerque Academy in a 9:45 a.m. tipoff. The Chargers fell to Carlsbad 68-46 in Friday’s other consolation matchup.