Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
LOVINGTON – Facing teams for the third time this season, Clovis High’s boys had a couple of battles on their hands this week.
After getting past Goddard on Tuesday night in Roswell, the Wildcats were tripped up in Friday’s clash at Lovington, falling behind by 10 points in the first quarter and losing a squeaker 49-46.
CHS (10-9) opened the season with blowout wins by a combined 75 points over Goddard and Lovington at Rock Staubus Gym, then slipped past both in separate tournaments in December. It finally caught up with the Cats on Friday night.
Lovington (11-7) got 22 points from junior guard Julian Arroyo, 10 coming in the final quarter. Clovis rallied to take a lead late before Lovington pulled it out in the final moments.
The Cats were led by 15 points from junior forward Champ Gooden and 12 – including 11 in the second half – from junior guard Keilyn Parker.
Clovis begins District 4-5A action this week, hosting Carlsbad on Tuesday night and Hobbs on Friday.
Clovis 54, Roswell Goddard 50 (Tuesday) – The Cats had another toughie on their hands with the Rockets, but this time prevailed behind an 18-8 third quarter surge. Gooden fueled the comeback with seven of his season-best 25 points as Clovis erased a five-point halftime deficit.
Over the final two stanzas, the Cats scored 37 points while limiting the Rockets to 28. Goddard made a late run with the help of some 3s, but Parker’s free throw made it a four-point margin with 15 seconds remaining.
“We came out and got a couple of stops, and we were able to take the lead,” first-year CHS coach Josh Mattox said after the game. “I felt like we played better today (than in recent games). We cleaned up some of the miscues we’ve been having. We’re still learning how to win these kinds of games.”
No one besides Gooden reached double figures for the Cats, with 6-5 junior forward Marvin Cox next on the scoring list with nine points.
Junior forward Christian Zapata led Goddard (8-10) with 18 points, while senior post Rhett Price tossed in 13.
