Wildcats advance past Bears

CLOVIS — Saturday night was the first Clovis boys basketball state playoff game at Rock Staubus Gymnasium since 2013. And the Wildcats’ last game there, period, for another nine months.

Clovis marked the occasion with a solid tip-off-to-final-buzzer performance against La Cueva, as the eighth-seeded Wildcats beat the ninth-seeded Bears 71-60 in Saturday’s state 5A first-round clash.

The ’Cats went ahead for good late in the second quarter and rolled on to earn a state quarterfinal spot, plus the trip upstate that comes with it.

Wednesday at 9:45 a.m., Clovis (21-8) is facing top-seeded Las Cruces (26-3) at The Pit in Albuquerque, with the winner advancing to a Thursday-afternoon semifinal (4:45 p.m.) right back at The Pit, battling either fourth-seeded Oñate or 12-seed Volcano Vista.

Those are important steps along the way to a state title. Clovis has already taken the super-important first step.

“We’re excited for our team. We’re excited for our kids to get a chance to go compete in The Pit,” Wildcats head coach Jaden Isler said. “It’s been a long time for Clovis since we’ve had a team go up and compete in The Pit, and we wanted our kids to have a chance to go compete there. Once you get there, all you gotta do is put three good games together, so we’re excited to be one of the last eight teams standing.”

“Very excited. This is the first time it’s happened in a while,” Clovis senior guard Dewayne Dawson said after helping his team book an Albuquerque visit by scoring a game-high 23 points Saturday night. “It gave us a lot of energy to go play a game at The Pit because we had a game at home. That gave us a lot more energy to be motivated to do it.”

“We’re very excited. It’s the first time that we’re going to be inside The Pit,” Clovis senior center Bryce Cabeldue said after adding 14 points, 10 in the second half, to the Wildcats’ cause Saturday.

The game against La Cueva was close throughout the first half. In fact, the Bears were up 16-14 early in the second quarter and the teams were tied 20-all late in that period.

Mason Figueroa nailed a left-corner three with 2:10 remaining in the half, and with 1:38 left before the break Malik Phillips went 1-for-2 from the foul line, stretching Clovis’ lead to 24-20.

After an Exodus Ayers basket drew La Cueva within two, Ro Morgan sank a free throw and Ethan Gershon hit an off-balance shot just before the buzzer, giving Clovis a 27-22 halftime lead.

Cabeldue opened the third-quarter scoring with an inside turnaround bank shot, soon followed by a left-corner three from Dawson. A fast-break Dawson layup and another Cabeldue bank shot completed a 12-0 Clovis run and put the Wildcats up 36-22.

It was a double-digit affair for most of the game’s remainder. La Cueva did sneak within single digits at the 2:34 mark of the fourth quarter, when Derek Aeilts hit two free throws that narrowed the Bears’ deficit to 58-49. And it was 60-51 a bit later.

But Josiah Lombrana knocked down a pair of foul shots, increasing Clovis’ lead to 62-51, and the margin stayed at double digits until the game’s end.

“They did a good job of being real physical with us,” La Cueva head coach Frank Castillo said. “I thought the third quarter was kind of our downfall, that’s when they kind of pulled away from us. I don’t know how close we got it in the fourth quarter, but we didn’t give up.”

Nevertheless, the Bears’ season drew to a close.

“I think it was a great year,” Castillo said. “We won our district (2/5A) championship. We ended up 17-9. I thought our kids did a great job this year.”

The Wildcats extended their season by at least a few more days. How far can they go?

“I think we can win it all,” Cabeldue said.

“We’re capable of going to the championship,” Dawson said. “We have a good team. We’ve just got to stay together, do what’s right, hustle, and just play hard, and we can take it all the way.”