Hobbs defeats Wildcats

HOBBS — The Hobbs Eagles knocked the Clovis Wildcats from the ranks of the undefeated, but didn’t knock them from the top spot in District 4-5A.

Senior post Jeff Taylor scored 18 of his game-high 37 points in the fourth quarter, leading the host Eagles to an 88-83 victory Friday night at Ralph Tasker Arena.

The teams tied in their season series 1-1, but Clovis (25-1, 3-1 district) wins the district’s top seed thanks to a point-differential tiebreaker. The Wildcats defeated Hobbs 92-74 on Feb. 8 at Rock Staubus Gymnasium.

“We didn’t come in the game to not lose by 17 or whatever,” Clovis coach J.D. Isler said. “We came to win, and our kids played hard enough to win. I told the kids I felt like we took their best shot and we could have won this.”

There were 17 lead changes on the night, with Hobbs (23-3, 3-1) taking the last one early on a 7-0 run early in the fourth quarter.

Isler pointed to offensive rebounding by Hobbs and a physical ballgame hurting Clovis’ uptempo style.

“ It was a really physical game,” Isler said. “The officials let it get really physical and I thought that was a detriment to us. They really bodied (senior guard) Jaden Isler. We get those calls, we go to the line and we win.”

Each team had three scorers in double figures. Bryce Hill and Jaye Crockett each scored 27, while Jaden Isler added 18.

For Hobbs, Jahreece Thompson and Derrek Peterson supported the 6-foot-7 Taylor’s big night with 14 and 11 points respectively.

Clovis outshot Hobbs 21-18 from the line, but Coach Isler felt Taylor was being “protected” by the officiating crew and the Wildcats should have gotten more free throws from loose-ball fouls.

“We didn’t do a terrible job boxing him out,” Coach Isler said. “They will not call over the back on him. Hopefuly, we’ll do a good job next time and we’ll get more calls.”

Isler is figuring that next time will be Saturday.

Hobbs hosts Carlsbad on Thursday night in the 4-5A tournament. The winner will play Saturday at Clovis.