Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
BY THE STAFF OF THE NEWS
HOBBS — Ho-hum, another district championship won at Hobbs High School.
OK, maybe not ho-hum, since the Clovis boys basketball team only won this year’s District 4-5A title at Hobbs by hanging on, 67-65, last Saturday.
But, it was the second year in a row the Wildcats captured a district title by beating the Eagles at Hobbs High School. So, it may at least seem like it’s becoming routine.
A district tournament championship, though, however and wherever it’s won, is anything but run-of-the-mill. Doing so in dramatic fashion helps the team’s character, its mettle.
“Our boys are battle tested,” Clovis head coach Jaden Isler said. “You want to go into the state tournament feeling you’re playing good basketball. Obviously, district basketball is very tough because you play the same teams three times in a few weeks’ span.”
Saturday night’s district title game was the rubber match between Hobbs and Clovis, who had split their regular-season games, with each winning at home. The third clash was tied 13-all after one quarter, but in the second, Clovis outscored Hobbs 19-12.
“Which gave us a little bit of space,” Isler said. “They outscored us by one (18-17) in the third, and so that second quarter gave us a little bit of room.”
Clovis led 49-43 heading into the fourth quarter, and went up by 10 during that period. It was a seven-point cushion with about a minute left before Hobbs made a last run, closing to within 65-63 in the final minute.
With roughly 10 seconds remaining, Wildcats junior guard Blake Muscato was sent to the foul line and hitting both free throws to make it a four-point game.
“He iced the game at the line for us,” Isler said.
Clovis’ senior center Bryce Cabeldue led all scorers with 23 points. Senior forward Ethan Gershon added 17 for the Wildcats (20-8).
Hobbs (18-9) was led by Jalen Goar with 21 points. Quintrel Van Hook added 13 points for the Eagles, followed by Isaiah Lewis with 11 points.
By winning, Clovis earned a first-round home game for the state 5A playoffs. The eighth-seeded Wildcats will host ninth-seeded La Cueva (17-8) this Saturday at 7 p.m. It will be the first home game for Clovis’ boys basketball program since 2013.
