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Portales basketball teams have mixed tournament results

LITTLEFIELD, Texas — The Portales High boys basketball team scored 60 points in the final three quarters of its win over Sundown, 69-49, in the first round of the Littlefield Wildcat Classic on Thursday morning.

The Rams (5-3) trailed 13-4 in the early going, and were held to just nine points at the end of the first period. “We were getting really good shots in the first quarter — whole first half, really,” Portales coach Rickie McBroom explained.

“But, we weren’t making them. The difference in the second half is that we started making those shots.” Another big difference for the Rams was holding the Roughnecks’ (0-2) offense in check beyond the first period.

Ab Bocanegra scored 20 points on the day, but most of those came early. According to McBroom, Bocanegra scored 13 of Sundown’s first 16 points, before the Rams switched into a zone defense, which limited the Roughnecks, a team that typically sees more man defense.

The rest of the Sundown squad was held to seven points or less, and as a team, the Roughnecks scored just 18 points after halftime. As for Portales, Braden Bridges lit up the scoreboard with 27 points, including 14th in the fourth quarter alone.

“In the second half, we changed to our zone defense, which allowed (Braden) to be up top when we rebounded,” McBroom said. “It allowed him to get the ball deep, as Sundown posted him up and he managed to get a lot of shots under the basket in the second half.”

Besides Bridges, a countless number of other Rams stepped up on Thursday, as Vince Gardner had 12 of Portales’ 53 rebounds, while Tyrese Dawson filled up the stat sheet with nine boards, eight assists and five blocks.

For McBroom, seeing so many of his players contribute was key to taking down the Roughnecks. “The good thing about today is that we had a number of kids contribute in a number of ways,” McBroom said.

“The kids battled back and it was a great team win.” The Rams will now advanced to today’s winner’s bracket semifinal against Levelland (5-2), played at 3:30 p.m. (Mountain Standard Time). Should Portales win, it will play in the title game Saturday night at 6:30.

As for the Rams girls (9-2), things didn’t go as well for them on Thursday in Littlefield. Stratford (13-4) knocked down 10 3-pointer’s and built a double-digit lead by halftime, en route to a 71-56 win over Portales.

“No. 1, I think they’re good, and nobody shoots like they shoot,” Rams coach Wade Fraze said of the Elks. “None of those girls play volleyball — they play basketball all year long, and it shows. We weren’t finding our man in transition defense. They’ve got good passers, great shooters and while they’re not real deep, their top three are tough.”

While Portales had an early 7-6 lead, that quickly evaporated as Stratford hit four of their 10 three-pointers in the first quarter to break the game open. Stratford led by six after one period and carried a 36-23 lead into the half.

The Elks’ big three proved to be lethal, as Audrain scored 30 points, Burr had 19 and James added 14 of her own. As for Portales, Zamorye Cox scored 24 points, while Taylee Rippee had 21 points and eight rebounds.

The Rams will now play Friona in today’s loser’s bracket semifinal at 8 a.m. MST.

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