Portales forward Billy Good adjusts in midair for two of his game-high 16 points in Portales’ 71-35 win over Crownpoint.

Nick Bliss goes for a first-half layup. Bliss finished with 12 points.

With less than a minute left in a half Portales was already dominating, Nick Bliss had one loud command for his four Ram teammates — “ATTACK.”

Junior guard Shawn Carrasco took Bliss’ advice, landing a final first-half offensive with a steal and a layup as the buzzer sounded for halftime.

With a few early exceptions, Saturday’s first-round Class 3A game played out that way, with the host Rams hitting shots and Crownpoint firing blanks in a 71-35 Portales victory.

The Rams, winners of 11 of their last 12, move on to face Socorro in a 9:45 a.m. Wednesday quarterfinal at the Santa Ana Star Center.

Carrasco scored 13 to end up as one of three Rams in double figures, while Billy Good contributed a game-high 16 and hit a pair of 3-pointers during a 12-0 burst to turn what was a tight game into an easy Ram victory.

With Portales off to a cold 4-of-15 in the first quarter, the game tilted back and forth, including six lead changes.

“We did some crazy things,” Portales coach Mark Gallegos said. “They were working their man defense really deep in the lane, and we got impatient.”

Bliss, who added 12 points, touched off the second-quarter run with a driving layup, and Crownpoint didn’t help matters by starting the period with six consecutive misses.

“It snowballed and we didn’t really shoot the ball well,” Crownpoint coach Rick Pawela said. “I knew for us to have a chance, we were going to have to shoot the ball well.

“I told them in the locker room everything was going to plan, but we couldn’t buy a shot. Normally, we hit those 3s.”

They didn’t, with 5-of-20 shooting in the first half and 12-of-35 overall.

Without the Eagle (15-12)s nipping at their heels, the Rams worked on building their 34-16 halftime lead, as Carrasco scored four points in a 12-0 Ram run that put the game on ice.

“I think we played better in the third quarter,” said Carrasco. “We were doing what we were supposed to do; just play basketball.”

Portales (20-8) spent the rest of the night keeping the lead hovering above 30 points, but trying not to run up the score on the 14th-seeded Eagles.

“It’s hard to pull the reigns off them because that’s our MO,” Gallegos said.

Jeremiah Jodie scored 14 points for the Eagles and Calven Morgan added 10.

Portales 71, Crownpoint 35

Crownpoint (15-12)
Jeremiah Jodei 4- 5-6 14, Calven Morgan 3 2-2 10, Kyle Tom 3 0-0 6, Troy Curley 1 0-0 2, Reynaldo Beyale 1 0-0 2, Kevin Hubbell 0 1-2 1, Totals 12 8-10 35.

Portales (20-8)
Billy Good 7 0-0 16, Shawn Carrasco 6 0-0 13, Nick Bliss 6 0-0 12, Marcus Slocum 3 2-2 8, Walker Partin 4 0-0 8, Sid Duran 1 3-4 5, Will Archibeque 2 0-0 4, Zach Terry 1 0-0 3, Jesus Davalos 1 0-0 2, Andrew Villanueva 0 0-1 0, Totals 31 5-7 71.

Crownpoint    9    9    6    11    — 35
Portales    10    22    21    18    — 71
3-pointers — Crownpoint 3 (Morgan 2, Jodie 1), Portales 4 (Good 2, Carrasco 1, Terry 1). Fouls — Crownpoint 13, Portales 13.