CLIFF – The last time the Cliff High boys’ basketball team faced Reserve, it was a battle in which the Cowboys won by one
point. Saturday night, Cliff cruised to a 63-30 win over the Mountaineers, guaranteeing it a No. 1 seed in the district tourney, and an automatic berth to the state event. “This is a huge win for us,” head coach Pete Shock said. “It puts us in the state tourney, with one game remaining, and the worst we could finish in district is 5-1, with the No. 1 seed.” In the early going, the game was close, as Reserve edged Cliff, 9-8, after the first quarter of play. The second period saw the Cowboys outscore the Mountaineers, 13-10, to take a 21-19 lead into the locker room at halftime. “Both teams got off to a slow start,” Shock said. “We defended each other so well early, the game was pretty good.” A two-for-seven performance from the free-throw line didn’t help Cliff in the first period, and with Ethan Shelley getting into foul trouble in the first half, that put a damper on the Cowboys’ scoring. But, things changed quickly in the third period, as Cliff put up 25 points, while it held Reserve to only two, taking a 46-21 lead. The Cowboys improved to an eight-of-eight performance from the charity stripe, and they got a couple of treys from Justin Gutierrez and one from Dustin Mayberry to help boost the run. The final quarter saw Cliff tally 17 points, compared to Reserve’s nine. The Cowboys won the battle of the boards, 35-25, and they had five fewer turnovers, at 23-18.
Shelley had another double double, tallying 19 points and 12 rebounds. Gutierrez followed, with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Dustin Mayberry had 10 points. Other scoring came from Tyler Wolf, five points, six rebounds and five assists Travis Mayberry, five points Junior Hernandez, four points and seven assists Shaun Neil, three points and Cody Runyon and Luis Apodaca, two points.