In Clovis North-Clovis West boys basketball rematch, coach sees a key: ‘We were lucky’

This time, advantage Clovis West.

The Bee’s third-ranked Golden Eagles avenged a recent defeat to No. 2 Clovis North for a 64-51 high school boys basketball victory in a Tri-River Athletic Conference game Friday night.

In the first meeting Jan. 10, Clovis North won 68-66.

“The first time we played, they played better than we did that night,” Clovis West coach Vance Walberg said. “We turned it over a lot and missed a lot of layups. They made the plays and we didn’t. I’ll be honest with you: we gave them a lot of (3-pointers) tonight, which I didn’t want to do and we were kind of lucky they missed those 3s.”

Clovis West (23-2) and Clovis North (19-6) are both 5-1 in the TRAC.

The Golden Eagles were led Friday night by senior guard Issac Martinez, who finished with a team-high 18 points. Zach Chauchan added 16 points for Clovis West.

Walberg cited Martinez’s play and another key to the outcome.

“Issac can do a lot of things,” Walberg said. “When Issac wants to play, he’s really good.

“We were lucky tonight. We had referees that let us play tonight. The last time we played, it was ticky-tack, ticky-tack. That was a big benefit for us.”

Clovis West guard Marshel Sanders is defended by Clovis North forward Malik Musleh in a high school boys basketball game on Friday, Jan. 27, 2023.
Clovis West guard Marshel Sanders is defended by Clovis North forward Malik Musleh in a high school boys basketball game on Friday, Jan. 27, 2023.