Cavemen handle Goddard's shooters in road win

The Carlsbad boys basketball team locked down on Goddard's shooters in the second half and got stops that led to a 53-41 road win on Tuesday.

"We kind of forced them to take more challenged shots and shots that were a little bit deeper than they normally wanted to take," coach Jamaal Brown said. "Once you take shots that are either rushed or out of your shooters' range, you're in really good rebounding position. I thought we did a great job rebounding the ball."

Although the Cavemen trailed 28-27 at halftime, Brown said his players did a good job finding Goddard's shooters and boxed out "tremendously well" in the second half.

Brown said Carlsbad allowed very few, if any, second-chance points in the second half.

Junior center Brenden Boatwright scored 24 points, while junior forward Chris Johnson scored 20 points.

"When those two are playing like that, when our guards are doing a good job of finding them - not only in transition, but giving them the ball in prime scoring opportunities - that's a pretty tough 1-2 punch," Brown said. "Brenden had four dunks. He was playing above the rim like he's capable of. Chris Johnson had some really nice finishes at the basket, but also was able to step out and hit a couple of nice mid-range jump shots."

Carlsbad (6-1) will play back-to-back games in Las Cruces this weekend, starting at Las Cruces High at 7 p.m. Friday.

Brown said Carlsbad can "absolutely" shut down the Bulldawgs' outside shooters the way they did against Goddard, especially senior guards Micah Calderon and Malachi Calderon.

"I think it's going to be a long night for the Las Cruces shooters," Brown said.

CARLSBAD 53, GODDARD 41

Up next for Carlsbad: 7 p.m. Friday at Las Cruces

Up next for Goddard: 5:30 p.m. Friday at Chaparral