Clovis senior guard Brian Pierson slices between Hobbs senior Kyle Neimeyer, left, and sophomore forward Anthony Norris during the second quarter of Friday’s game at Rock Staubus Gymnasium. Pierson, who scored on the play, finished with 17 points.

Clovis junior Logan Turnbow scores over Hobbs senior Juhreese Thompson during the first quarter. Turnbow finished with four points.

The Clovis Wildcats couldn’t send District 4-5A to a coin flip. They still sent a message.

Jaye Crockett dominated with 38 points and 14 rebounds, and the Clovis Wildcats took a strangely disappointing 78-63 victory over the rival Hobbs Eagles on Friday night at Rock Staubus Gymnasium.

The Wildcats (17-9, 3-1) needed a 20-point victory to tie Hobbs (21-5, 3-1) on point differential and force a coin flip for the top seed in this week’s district tournament. But Kyle Niemeyer scored his only two points on a putback with nine seconds left to hold down the Wildcat margin just enough.

The Wildcats will instead host Carlsbad on Thursday night to open the 4-5A tournament, while the Eagles host the winner Saturday at Ralph Tasker Arena.

“A win’s a win, but it’s disappointing,” said Crockett, who led three Wildcats in double figures. “It would have been a lot better to get a 20-point win. We needed that.”

Clovis took control with a 9-2 run midway through the second quarter, and the defense forced 16 first-half turnovers en route to a 44-28 lead at the break.

“Down there, we gave up 80 points, which is way too much,” senior guard Stefan Mills said. “We decided we’d man up and ‘D’ up, and it paid off.”

Hobbs never got closer than nine in the second half, but the final few minutes still held intrigue for the capacity crowd. With the tiebreaker in Clovis’ reach, a 17-point Hobbs deficit with 1:07 left essentially became a three-point Hobbs lead.

“It was a strange situation for fans who realized what was going on,” Clovis coach J.D. Isler said. “I don’t think I’ve sever seen Hobbs hold the ball, and I didn’t think we’d be fouling, with an 18-point lead.”

Clovis pushed the lead to 19 with :26 to play, but gave up a pair of offensive rebounds on Hobbs free throws in the final 15 seconds. One put Nick Gilmore on the line for 1-of-2 free throws, and the other resulted in Neimeyer’s putback.

Hobbs coach Russ Gilmore regretted the Eagles’ let Clovis’ energy get to them. But, with the top seed in hand, he couldn’t muster up much disappointment otherwise.

“We were playing like we were ahead,” Hobbs coach Russ Gilmore said. “(Isler) had to do what he had to do, and I did what I had to do.”

Josh Sanders scored 17 to lead Hobbs, Shelby Reeves added 13 and Juhreese Thompson fought foul trouble to post 10 for the Eagles.

Bryan Pierson went for 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting, and Tanner Adams added 11 for a Clovis team that is hoping to send a message to the seeding committee and the rest of Class 5A over the next few games.

“I don’t think anybody wants to play either of us,” Isler said of the Wildcats and Eagles.

Hobbs (21-5) — Daniel Salazar 6-12 3-4 17, Shelby Reeves 6-11 0-0 13, Juhreece Thompson 3-8 4-7 10, Josh Sanders 4-8 0-3 8, Anthony Norris 2-5 1-1 5, Nick Gilmore 0-1 4-8 4, Kyle Niemeyer 1-3 0-2 2, Brandon Marinovich 0-2 0-0 0, Londus Franklin 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 23-52 14-27 63.
Clovis (17-9) — Jaye Crockett 15-26 7-9 38, Bryan Pierson 8-10 2-3 17, Tanner Adams 4-6 3-4 11, Stefan Mills 2-7 4-4 8, Logan Turnbow 2-5 0-0 4, Arthur Calbert 0-1 0-0 0, Dustin Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Dexter Correll 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 31-57 16-20 78.
Hobbs 16 12 21 14 — 63
Clovis 19 25 19 15 — 78
3-pointers — Hobbs 3-12 (Salazar 2-7, Reeves 1-5), Clovis 1-5 (Crockett 1-3, Correll 0-1, Mills 0-1). Rebounds — Hobbs 29 (Sanders 7), Clovis 31 (Crockett 14). Fouled out — Calbert, Adams, Thompson. Junior varsity — Hobbs 69, Clovis 64. C team — Hobbs 54, Clovis 49.