Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Portales senior Tyrese Dawson brings the ball into the frontcourt against the defensive pressure of a Ruidoso player in the first half of Friday's District 4-4A game at he Ram Athletic Center. Portales topped Ruidoso 60-51.
PORTALES - The Rams notched a much-needed win in Friday night's 4A-District 4 boys basketball game, defeating the Ruidoso Warriors, 60-51.
Portales moved ahead of Ruidoso for third-place in the standings with the win entering the final week of the regular season.
"They just became a bit more desperate in the second half," Rams coach Rickie McBroom said of a trailing Ruidoso. "I thought our kids played real consistent for four quarters, and we controlled the game from start to finish."
Portales (13-10, 3-3) went ahead, 8-5, with a pair of 3-pointers and a drive to the basket by Tyrese Dawson. Braden Bridges soon followed that up with a pair of buckets, to give the Rams a 15-7 lead after one period of play.
Ruidoso (13-10, 2-4) cut the lead to three with a Brady Mendez banked-in trey, late in the first half. However, another Dawson triple, coupled with a Vince Gardner lay-in gave Portales a 29-21 lead at the break.
While Dawson's 23 points led the way for the Rams, one of the biggest things Portales did to throw the Ruidoso defense out of whack was have consistent success in transition, as Rico Diaz successfully converted on three key outlet passes in the first half.
"What we've been working on in practice is having our guys really running in their lanes hard on offense," McBroom explained. "Rico was getting up the floor like crazy, and it was something that we did earlier in the year, then we struggled with it, and now it's back."
Diaz complimented Dawson's 23 points with 13 of his own, while Josh Romero scored 27 of the Warriors' 51 points. Portales will finish off its 2017-18 regular season campaign with a road game at NMMI on Tuesday night, followed by a home game against Hope Christian next Friday night.
"We go to NMMI on Tuesday, and I know they haven't won a (district) game yet, but we better make sure we're ready to play, so nothing goes wrong," McBroom said. "We better show up, ready to play, because we need that win. I think the top three in our district will all get home games in the Round of 16 (4A state tournament). I believe we have the best district in the state, top to bottom."
