Last-second putback lifts Steers to tournament title
Dec. 13—FARWELL — For sure, Adrian Nunez should have been able to get some quality shut-eye on Saturday night.
The Farwell senior , along with the majority of his teammates, struggled mightily to find the basket most of the night, but Nunez got one to go when it counted — a putback shot that just beat the final buzzer — as the Steers edged Littlefield 48-47 for the championship of the Farwell Invitational.
Farwell's girls also took home a tourney title with a 73-39 rout of Littlefield.
With the Steers down a point, Nunez had three cracks from close range on the same possession in the final minute, only to come up empty.
He got another opportunity, though, when the Steers' pressure forced a Littlefield turnover. After a timeout with 3.7 seconds left, senior Alec Actkinson drove the baseline and missed, but Nunez was on the weak side and put it back in just as the final buzzer went off.
"There were three seconds on the clock, so we had a little time," Nunez said. "If I'd missed, it would've been miserable. I don't think I would've been able to sleep tonight."
Farwell (6-2) helped keep the Wildcats in it with a nightmarish night from the free throw line, going just 5-of-20. One that went, though, came on the back end of a three-point play by seldom-used senior Cesar Snyder, trimming a 47-43 deficit to a single point with 32 seconds to go.
"Cesar Snyder came up with a big play for us," Steers coach Shane Perkins said.
After the timeout in the closing seconds, the Steers hoped to get the ball to junior guard Corey Stancell, but Littlefield (5-6) had him well-defended.
"Sometimes you've just got to go make a play," Perkins said. "Littlefield did a good job of stopping what we were trying to do. Alec did a good job of getting a shot up."
Stancell finished with 19 points for Farwell, while sophomore Ryder McElroy had three 3-pointers for nine points and Nunez added eight.
"Cesar made a big play, and we were down by one," Nunez said. "We just had to stick to it."
Senior guard Elijah Salazar topped the Wildcats with 14 points.
In the girls' title clash, senior Charlie Trimble scored 21 points and sophomore Makylee Baldwin finished with 17 as the Lady Blue (10-3) completed a dominating run through the tourney.
Littlefield (6-7) was within 25-15 at halftime, but sophomore Isabella Jaime's 3-pointer capped a 9-0 run over the first two minutes of the third period and the Lady Blue went on to post a 48-point second half.
Farwell harassed the Lady Wildcats into 27 turnovers while committing only 12 of its own. Senior Jaelyn Smith had three of the team's six 3-pointers and finished with 11 points.
Senior Madison McNeese (19) and junior Kyndal Edgemon (15) accounted for all but five of Littlefield's tallies. McNeese had a trio of 3-pointers, while Edgemon went 8-for-10 from the foul line.
The pressure defense resulted in lots of easy points for Farwell.
"That's what we want to do," Lady Blue coach Josh Jourden said. "They (Lady Wildcats) got down a little bit toward the end, and that's when we got a few runouts."
In other final-round contests involving area teams:
Texico 70, Muleshoe 61 (boys seventh place) — The Wolverines (5-3) used a 22-point second quarter that included three 3s by senior Jahvon Askew to open a 36-18 halftime lead, then fended off a late run by the Mules (3-5).
Askew finished with 33 points for Texico, while junior Cade Figg scored 18. For Muleshoe, senior Tate Shipman and junior JoJo Barron each had 12 points, and senior Irvin Torres added 11.
Silverton 50, Muleshoe 41 (girls fifth place) — The Lady Owls built an eight-point halftime lead and played Muleshoe even the rest of the way.
Freshman Maddie Francis scored 12 points for Silverton. The Lady Mules (7-9) placed three players in double figures — sophomores Aubrey Granados with 13 points and Megan Moran with 11, and senior Kylie Hernandez with 10.
Meantime, Farwell's junior varsity (Farwell Blue) went 2-1 in the tournament after defeating Hale Center 39-29 for third place on Saturday.
