ARTESIA — Kevin Chandler scored 16 points, and the Artesia Bulldogs avenged a holiday defeat with a 58-48 win Tuesday over the Portales Rams.

Stephen Shields scored a season-high 16 points for Portales (3-6), which was unable to stop the Bulldogs offense in a 19-10 second quarter for host Artesia.

Portales coach Mark Gallegos said one of his team’s goal is to hold opponents to 45 points.

“We played them straight in the second, but when you’re down by 10 (you can’t trade baskets),” Gallegos said. “We couldn’t get a defensive stop, even in man defense. That has kind of been our trouble the last three games.”

The Rams played better in the second half, Gallegos said, but gave up a lot of easy baskets.

“We’ve got to come back with a defensive mentality,” Gallegos said. “That has always been how we did things in the past, but it’s not right now and it is killing us.”

Shawn Carrasco added 15 for the Rams, who beat Artesia 55-48 last week to open the Stu Clark Tournament in Las Vegas, Nev.

Portales returns home Friday and Saturday to host the Portales Ram Shoot Out.

They face Santa Teresa on Friday and Socorro on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday against the Desert Warriors.

 
Portales12 10 13 13 — 48

Artesia13 19 13 13 — 58

Portales (3-6): Stephen Shields 16, Shawn Carrasco 15.

Artesia (6-5): Kevin Chandler 16, Matt Navarrette 15.