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Cavemen Play Host to 5th-ranked Coyotes

kmarksteiner0

By Don Eskins

Hoping to get off to a great start in this year’s race for the District 4/5A title, the Cavemen basketball team did just that. On Tuesday night, January 28, in their District 4/5A opener, Carlsbad High defeated the Clovis Wildcats on the road 55-43.

The victory left Carlsbad, ranked 14th, sitting at 1-0 in conference play and 15-6 on the year. Clovis fell to 8-11 overall and 0-1 in district.

The Cavemen, down 16-14 after opening quarter play, never trailed again. Up 30-27 at the half, Carlsbad went on to outscore the Cats 25-16 over the final two periods to grab the 55-43 win.

“I really liked the way our kids were focused going into the game,” said Caveman head coach John Zumbrun. “Up by three at the half and by 16 at the end of the third period, the effort they put out was very impressive.”

Equally impressive was the performance of Shane Sullivan. Sullivan, a 6’4” junior forward, collected a team-high 19 points in the win.

“You know, on the floor, Shane is really a quiet kid. Sometimes, we don’t even notice just how well he’s played until the game’s over,” said the Cavemen coach. “Not flashy, he just goes about his business helping the team. Humble and a pleasure to be around, he’s very efficient and has been scoring somewhere around 19 points for the past several games.”

In picking up the victory, three Cavemen scored in double figures. Along with Sullivan’s 19 points, Kyran Orgain scored 13 and Zenas Huerta 12.

But something else caught Zumbrun’s eye following the Cavemen win. Carlsbad hit 48% of their two-point field goal attempts and 40% of their threes.

“We have a goal to log an effective field goal percentage of over 50% every time we take the floor. Against Clovis, our percentage was 53.3. That made our coaching staff very happy,” said Zumbrun. “I think a lot of that can be attributed to how well our kids passed the ball around. Often, they passed on decent shots to get a better one. When that happens, the ball usually starts falling in for us.”

On Friday night, January 31, the Cavemen will host the Roswell Coyotes. The fifth-ranked Coyotes, who fell to the Hobbs Eagles 93-81 on January 28, are 16-5 on the year and 0-1 in District 4/5A.

“With Hobbs ranked second and Roswell fifth, we have a very competitive district this year. So, every game we play will be a tough one. But we’re confident we can compete with them,” said the Caveman boss. “If we can continue to rebound and play good defense the way we’ve done all year and make a few shots along the way, we’ll be okay against the Coyotes.

“Also, playing Roswell High in our house should be a big plus for us,” he added. “Hopefully, a good home crowd will be on hand to help us pull through.”

On January 23, the Cavemen defeated the Goddard Rockets 53-39; on January 25, the Chaparral Lobos 82-18. Recaps of those games are posted below:


District Standings

Team-------- Dist-----Yr

Hobbs---------1-0---18-3

Carlsbad------1-0---15-6

Roswell------ 0-1---16-5

Clovis--------- 0-1---8-11

Class 5A Rank: Hobbs 2, Roswell 5, Carlsbad 14, Clovis 17.

As of Wed. January 29, 2025


Cavemen Basketball Recaps

Tuesday- January 28, 2025

CHS 14-16-18-07--55

CLO 16-11-05-11--43

Game Stats: Tanner Cornum 3pts-2R; Maliq Mills 2R-1 Stl; Kyran Orgain 13pts-3R-4A-1 Stl; Zenas Huerta 12pts-1R-3A-2 Stls; Jacob Chavarria 8pts-3R-3A-1 Stl; Dryden Preece 2R; Jonah Moyers 1R-1A; Shane Sullivan 19pts-5R-1A-1 Stl; Brandon Sullivan 1R-1A; Mario De Leon 2R; 2pt FG’s 12-25-48%; 3pt FG’s 8-20-40%; FT’s 7-11-63.6%. (Hudl Digital Stats) Thursday- January 23, 2025

Cavemen 53, Goddard 39

CHS--11-10-22-10--53

GHS--14-07-13-05--39

Game Stats: T. Cornum 2pts-1R-2 Stls; K. Orgain 16pts-3R-4A-8 Stls; Z. Huerta 8pts-8R-3A; J. Herrera 1R; J. Chavarria 2pts-2A-1B-1 Stl; D. Preece 4pts-1A; J. Moyers 1R; S. Sullivan 17pts-3R-2 Stls; E. Banks 2pts; B. Sullivan 2pts-3R-1 Stl: 2pt FG’s 14-23-60.9%; 3pt FG’s 3-15-20%; FT’s 16-21-76.2%. (Hudl Digital Stats) Saturday- January 25, 2025

Cavemen 82, Chaparral 18

C-bad--38-13-19-12--82

Chap---06-06-00-06--18

Game Stats: Tanner Cornum 10pts; Maliq Mills 3pts; Kyran Orgain 4pts; Zenas Huerta 17pts; Jacob Chavarria 5pts; Kevin Quarles 5pts; Dryden Preece 2pts; Jonah Myers 2pts; Shane Sullivan 16pts; Elijah Banks 2pts; Brandon Sullivan 12pts; Mario De Leon 2pts; 2pts-unidentified player; (Hudl Digital Stats)




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