By Don Eskins
Following a successful start on the 2024-25 season—a 58-39 victory over El Paso El Dorado—the Cavemen have now turned their attention to the City of Champions Basketball Invitational.
The tournament, hosting a tough eight-team field, opened play on Thursday, December 5, in Artesia and will run through Saturday, December 7.
The Cavemen opened tournam
ent play against the Alamogordo Tigers on Thursday. A victory there would catapult them on to a second-round game against the winner of the Hobbs vs. Rio Rancho opener at 4 p.m. on Friday, December 6. A loss would match them up against the loser of that game at 10 a.m.
“The tournament looks pretty tough this year, especially our side of the bracket. But that’s the way it is,” said Cavemen head coach John Zumbrun. “However, whoever we play, we’ll take the floor expecting to win, just like everybody else.
“But our ultimate goal is to use this invitational to help us get ready for district and state tournament play,” he said. “Playing tough teams, like we’ll see in the Artesia City of Champions Tournament, will make us better. That’s something we work hard to accomplish every time we play—that being to walk off the floor a better team than we were when we walked on.”
Also competing in this year’s City of Champions extravaganza are Deming, Los Lunas, Kirtland Central, and host Artesia.
Cavemen Rout El Paso Eldorado
Kyran Orgain scored 15 points, Jacob Chavarria, 14, and Zenas Huerta, 11, en route to the Cavemen’s 58-39 season-inaugural win over El Paso El Dorado in Carlsbad on Tuesday night, November 26. Brandon Sullivan, with five rebounds, led CHS’s effort on the boards.
El Dorado, who came into the contest having already played eight games, were 4-4 on the year. But despite their advantage of on-court experience, they couldn’t keep pace with Carlsbad.
“Getting a victory in our season-inaugural was big for our kids,” said coach John Zumbrun. “We saw a lot of good things from them en route to the win. Hopefully, we can continue to build on their effort.”
One area of CHS’s performance that pleased the Cavemen pilot was their shooting, especially from the arc.
“In our win over Eldorado, we hit 10 of 26 threes, 38%, that’s some really good shooting,” he said. “With our lack of size this year, being able to hit the three is especially important to us.
“We have several kids capable of hitting from beyond the arc,” he said. “That’s a definite plus for us when we make good on them.”
Knocking down threes for CHS were Kyran Orgain 3, Zenas Huerta 3, Jacob Chavarria 2, and Dryden Preece 1.
Overall, the Cavemen connected on 12 of 22 two-point shots, 54.5%, along with 10 of 26 threes for an overall shooting average of 45.8%. Carlsbad’s defensive effort also figured big into the game’s final score. CHS scored 18 points off 19 Eldorado turnovers. Zenas Huerta and Jacob Chavarria led the Cavemen in steals, each with three.
CHS vs Eldorado
EHS 09 10 15 05 39
CHS 12 14 12 20 58
Game Stats: K. Orgain 15 pts-3R-2A-2 Stls; J. Chavarria 14 pts-2R-5A-3 Stls; Z. Huerta 11 pts- 1R-2A-3 Stls; D. Preece 7 pts; S. Sullivan 6 pts-4R-1A- 1 Stl; M. Mills 3 pts-1A; B. Sullivan 5R-1 Stl; M. De Leon 2R-1A; T. Cornum 1 Stl, (2 pts. unaccounted for); FT’s 4-10-40%. (Unofficial Stats by Digital HUDL)
Comments