Mike Smith
Artesia Daily Press
msmith@currentargus.com

Artesia Bulldogs head basketball coach Michael Mondragon says district competition brings a sense of urgency as teams in New Mexico vie for postseason play in March.

Tuesday night at the Bulldog Pit, Artesia (14-7,2-0) survived a tough first half against the Portales Rams (11-10, 1-1) in the second District 4-4A contest of the year for both schools, defeating the Rams 74-48 after fine tuning the second-half game plan.

“Portales did a good job coming in and fighting,” Mondragon said during a postgame interview. “It’s district. All teams are going to play hard. All teams are out here fighting for their lives trying to get a good seed in the state tournament.”

During the opening half, he said, the Bulldogs hurt themselves with turnovers and some fouls.

“We know we’ve got depth. We know we’ve got a great team that can handle a lot of things,” Mondragon said. The team “really responded” after halftime and “came out with a huge third quarter,” he said.

The Bulldogs led 25-22 at the half but outscored the Rams 29-11 in the third period with firepower provided by junior guards Braylon Vega and Charlie Campbell and 6-foot-4 junior power forward/center Trent Egeland.

Vega was Artesia’s leading scorer with 18 points. Campbell had 15, Egeland had 12 and Clay Kincaid added 9.

Mondragon said Egeland and Kincaid, a 6-8 center/power forward, complement the outside play of Vega and Campbell.

“We’re a great team, you can’t just stop one,” he said. “Clay got into some early foul trouble that kind of hurt him. Trent is just a trash guy for us. He (has) great offensive rebounds, putbacks, always in the right place at the right time and with our size and our length teams can’t guard us. Our guards did a great job of getting them the ball and scoring down low.”

At 7 p.m. Friday at the Bulldog Pit, Artesia wraps up the first half of district play against Goddard.

Mondragon said the Bulldogs are getting better and expects challenges from Goddard, Lovington and Portales as the regular season concludes Feb. 21.

Portales outduels Lady Bulldogs

Artesia could not overcome a slow start and punishing defense by the Lady Rams as Portales posted a 57-32 victory Tuesday night at the Bulldog Pit.

In the opening period, Artesia (9-12, 1-1) had trouble making baskets from the floor. Free throws were the saving grace for the Lady Bulldogs as Portales (12-9, 2-0) ran up a 13-7 lead.

Free throws continued to be Artesia’s friend in the second period as the Lady Bulldogs kept the game close. Portales led 24-17 at halftime.

“The first six to seven points were nothing but foul shots,” said Artesia head coach Candace Pollard. “Foul shots kept us in the game. These free throws matter when it comes down to crunch time.”

Kailee Padilla was Artesia’s leading scorer with 10 points.

Artesia wraps up the first half of district play against Goddard at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Bulldog Pit.

Mike Smith can be reached at 575-308-8734 or email at msmith@currentargus.com.