Clovis boys get into win column

CLOVIS — First, Brian Weiss went off. Then, Juan Hernandez took the reigns.

Both players recorded personal scoring bests on Monday night as Clovis High’s boys broke through for their first win of the season, a 67-43 victory over Roswell High in the fifth-place game of the L&L Pallet Holiday tournament at Rock Staubus Gym.

Weiss, a senior guard, scored 14 of his game-high 24 points in a 14-4 run over the final five-plus minutes of the second period, giving the Cats (1-9) a 27-20 at halftime. Hernandez, a junior guard, then tallied all but two of his 20 points in the second half, with nine in both the third and fourth quarters.

“I thought we just played good as a team, especially on the rebounding side,” Weiss said. “We finally boxed out. We ran our offense, found good shots and put them in.”

Weiss said that while the Cats are young and tend to be undersized, they just had to work a little harder in the rebounding area.

“I don’t think size really matters,” he said. “We’ve just got to box out the big guys. We just try to play scrappier than the other team.”

Although they’ve been competitive in the majority of their games this season, the Cats haven’t found themselves playing with a lead very often. Weiss scored seven consecutive points, including a 3-pointer, to put Clovis in front for good midway through the second period.

“I don’t usually shoot the ball too much,” Weiss said. “Our other guards did a good job of driving and kicking (the ball out to shooters).”

Roswell High (3-9) used a 9-0 run to pull to 33-30 with three minutes left in the third stanza, but the Cats scored the next eight points — six by Hernandez. They put together a 10-0 run late to push the margin to 24 points.

Both teams tried to apply pressure. Suffice it to say, the Cats had more success, although turnovers were about even.

“We handled the press pretty well, which has been an issue for us,” CHS boys coach Jaden Isler said. “We did a great job of escaping pressure, and just kicked it to the open guy.”

Clovis had been competitive in all but a couple of its losses this season. The Cats haven’t been in front that often, though — their biggest lead prior to Monday was a 19-9 margin at the quarter against Artesia, a game they eventually lost 53-48.

Senior guard Ivan Miramontes led Roswell High with 13 points, but no one else had more than six. Miramontes had all nine of the Coyotes’ first-quarter points, including a couple of 3s, but added just two baskets after that.

Isler said everybody was happy to get rid of the “0” in the win column.

“It’s nice to have that off your back, and just worry about the next opponent,” he said. “We were more patient tonight, and when we had good opportunities we took good shots.”

In other final-round games on Wednesday, Atrisco Heritage defeated Organ Mountain 58-41 for the championship, while Los Lunas routed Alamogordo 58-34 to take third place.

The Cats return to action on Thursday with their third meeting of the season against Organ Mountain, this one in Las Cruces.

Los Lunas 47, Clovis 44 (Tuesday) — The Tigers (6-6) converted four free throws in the final minute to erase a one-point deficit, then survived a potential tying 3-point try by the Cats as time expired.

Three players combined for all but two points for Los Lunas — senior Eric Aragon with 21, freshman Jalin Holland with 13 and senior Hadley Beaty with 11. For the Cats, senior guard Luciano Webster was the lone double-figure scorer with two 3-pointers and 12 points.