Winning a basketball game in the TRAC in certainly no easy feat, just ask the Clovis North Broncos and Clovis West Golden Eagles.
And when a star player struggles or is taken out of a game due to foul trouble, it is incumbent on teammates to hold down the proverbial fort until that player can get back on track, making any chance of a win that much harder.
That is exactly what the Golden Eagles were able to do in their 77-61 victory over the Broncos in the highly-anticipated third installment in the trilogy of the two teams atop the TRAC standings, with the teams having split the first two games of the series.
Golden Eagles star guard Cole Anderson, who scored six points in a first period that saw the Broncos take a 13-8 lead, picked up two fouls early in the period, leaving the offensive load in the hands of Max Phillips and Jarren Carr.
Phillips filled it up with nine points in the second quarter, complemented by another six from Carr to keep the Golden Eagles down only 33-31 at halftime.
“I’m really proud of my teammates. They stuck it through and I knew at halftime I had to be aggressive going into the second half,”Anderson said.
Aggressive might be the understatement of the season.
Anderson went on a rampage in the third quarter, scoring 17 points while showcasing his all-around game with drives to the basket, back cuts for layups at the rim, and, oh yeah, the long ball as well. Anderson nailed three three-pointers en route to a game-high 29 points in total.
The effort spurred Clovis West to win the period 30-15, a theme that has been all too common for the Golden Eagles, according to head coach Vance Wahlberg.
“For whatever reason, we seem to be a pretty good third quarter team,” Wahlberg said. “Honestly, I don’t know, it was the intensity they had.”
The Golden Eagles took the 61-48 lead into the final period, which they continued to dominate.
Carr sank all eight of his free throws in the period and Cole added another six that allowed the Golden Eagles to comfortably guide home the win and the sweep of the season series.
Clovis West’s victory puts another degree of separation between the Broncos, allowing the Golden Eagles to take a two-game lead in the standings with four games left in the season.
The Golden Eagles will take their 22-3 record on the road as they will travel to Central to play the fourth-place Grizzlies Friday. The Broncos will lick their wounds before they try to bounce back against the fifth-place Clovis East Timberwolves Friday.