Texico center Lucas Walthers makes a 3-pointer over Floyd guard J'Kobie Lee during the first quarter.

Texico center Mitchell Harrison goes up for two points during the first quarter of Saturday's EPAC tournament boys championship game against Floyd.

Floyd forward Leon Mendoza reaches in an attempt to block a shot by Texico forward Seth Bailey during the first quarter.

PORTALES — The Texico Woverines made it back-to-back EPAC championships with a 38-22 win over the Floyd Broncos Saturday night in a battle of unbeatens at Greyhound Arena.

Texico (12-0) now has nine EPAC championships under its belt.

But Floyd (10-1) had the answer to Texico’s high-powered offense as the Broncos slowed the game down and kept the game close a little more than two quarters.

Texico coach Richard Luscombe gave Floyd coach Rafael Roybal credit for changing up the tempo, but said it wasn’t unexpected.

“He does a really great job of it and I’ve seen it for a long time,” Luscombe said. “I feel like our defense was good tonight,” he said. “We had to play good defense to win.”

Roybal said he was pleased with his team’s patience and felt the Broncos stepped up to the challenge.

“I think their experience showed,” he said of Texico. “This is the first really big game for us. You have to be in a big game to get that experience.”

Floyd matched the Woverines output during the first two quarters and led by one point briefly just before the end of the first quarter. They tied things up at 8-8 early in the second but a layup by Texico junior Jose Posada with 52 seconds left in the half put his team up 16-10.

Wolverines senior Seth Bailey got his first points of the night inside the paint with four seconds left and drew the foul to make it a combo. Texico led 19-11 at the half.

From that point on, the smothering defense of the back-to-back 2A champs took its toll on Floyd.

“We worked well as a team,” Posada said. “We played good defense and that’s what wins championships.”

Texicosenior Lucas Walthers led all scorers with 15 points, while Bailey scored 11.

Floyd was led by Chet Chenault with six points and Justin Rogers and J’Kobie Lee with four apiece.

In other games on Saturday:

• Logan rode 22 points from sophomore guard Rylan Calbert to a 58-52 victory over Elida in the consolation bracket.

Junior guard Brandon Rafool added 11 points for the Longhorns (7-6), while senior post Kody Paiz had 24 points and junior guard Alex Varela added four 3-pointers and 15 points for the Tigers (6-7).

• Melrose limited Dora to 12 second-half points, erasing a three-point deficit, and beat the Coyotes 53-40 in another consolation bracket game.

Senior Sammy Lawrence had 15 points for the Buffaloes (5-4), while seniors Mitchum Rush and Clint Barnard added 13 and 12, respectively. For the Coyotes (7-7), senior Mark Butler scored 13 points.

• Tatum (8-4) captured third place with a 59-48 victory over Fort Sumner, getting 15 points each from senior guards Logan Medlin and Ryan Glenn and 13 from senior guard Hunter Ray. The Foxes (7-6) were led by sophomore forward Kolter West with 12 points.