Rams take road win over Clovis

CLOVIS — Heading into Tuesday’s matchup between Portales and Clovis, both boys basketball coaches knew a key factor was going to be who won the inside game for control of the paint.

Jeremy Karngbaye answered that question resoundingly, scoring a season-high 34 points to lead the Rams to a 71-58 win over the Wildcats.

Portales (6-0) pulled away by outscoring the host Wildcats 34-23 in the second half.

Jakeem Wynn and Taitte Kutcha of Clovis kept the game close until the start of the third quarter, scoring 24 and 18 points on the night, respectively.

Clovis coach Scott Robinson said, “We came out and Jonathan (Williams) kind of set the tone early — we wanted to be physical with them and establish our presence down low. But Jeremy (Karngbaye) is a good post, I would say one of the best in the state regardless of class. If you front him you’re going to give up some stuff on the weakside and they shoot the ball so well, if you commit to strong weakside help, they can get you that way.”

Unfortunately for Williams and the Wildcats, the Clovis big man picked up two quick fouls trying to front Karngbaye and was forced to the bench in the opening minutes of the game. Isaiah Knight had slightly better luck staying out of foul trouble, but the Rams center would continue to dominate the paint the entire contest.

“Well to be honest we like to start every game by getting the ball inside,” said Rams coach Rickie McBroom. “We knew we had to get the ball inside because that opens up the outside for us. They worked hard, they were fronting hard and it was difficult, but our kids did a better job of reversing the ball then getting inside and that was key.”

After falling behind 14-11 at the end of the first, a 14-point second quarter performance by Wynn put Clovis (5-6) right back in the mix of things. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, coming out of the locker room at half would not be so kind to the team.

Robinson said, “Coming out of half has been a problem for us. It was a focal point this week at practice, it was certainly talked about at half time. We came out and right off the bat had a breakdown offensively and then defensively. That rhythm we got into the second quarter, it’s like we shut the car off then couldn’t get it started again.”

Both teams will face Roswell high as their next opponent, with the Rams hosting the Coyotes Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for three weeks ago, but Portales had most of its roster still playing football.

Clovis will take some time off before heading to Roswell Jan. 5 for a 7 p.m. tipoff.