LOVINGTON — The Portales Rams remain undefeated in district with a 45-40 win Tuesday against the Lovington Wildcats.

“This was just your typical Portales-Lovington game,” Portales coach Mark Gallegos said. “A real hard-fought game.”

Senior Nick Bliss led the Rams (12-7, 3-0 District 4-3A) with 13 points and junior Shawn Carrasco added 10.

Lovington (8-10, 2-1) was led by a pair of sophomores. Robert Perez scored 14 points and Jaden Swenson added 10.

Gallegos said the game was tight throughout as the Rams never had more than an eight-point lead.

“I was pleased with the kids closing it out,” Gallegos said. “It’s always hard to win in Lovington. It’s a big rivalry game and I was proud of how we kept our composure and closed the game out. We’re 3-0 in district, that’s the bright spot.”

Of concern was how the Rams shot free throws — The Rams 13-of-26.

“We missed a lot of easy stuff in the first half,” Gallegos said. “They did a good job of getting into a 1-3-1 zone and slowing the tempo down.”

The Rams outscored the Wildcats 12-8 in the second quarter to take a 21-17 halftime lead and led 30-24 heading into the final period.

The Rams take a break from their district schedule Friday night hosting Roswell High, before concluding the first half of their district docket by hosting Dexter on Feb. 3.

“We use (the Roswell High) game kind of as a measuring stick and see what are the things we need to work on to close the district season out,” Gallegos said.