Clovis senior Layne Strebeck drives past Hobbs' Jeff Taylor during a regular-season game in Clovis.

It’s been 75 days since Clovis scored 73 points.

Other scores have come and gone for the Wildcats, but that number comes up now that the second round of the Class 5A state tournament is here. The 73 is the amount Clovis put up Dec. 28, versus 70 for visiting Cibola. The Cougars and Wildcats have a 1:15 p.m. state quarterfinal rematch today at The Pit in Albuquerque.

The win, which Clovis secured after the Cougars missed a pair of potential game-tying 3-pointers, seemed routine at the time. Since then, however, that game is the exception to the rule, as the Wildcats have generally blown out teams with 22 wins in 23 chances.

Now, these two teams that were three points apart are seven seeds apart. The Wildcats (27-1) are the top seed in Class 5A. The Cougars (18-11) are No. 8 seed.

Clovis insists it is a better squad now than that one eked out a semifinal win in the Milk Cow Classic. To hear Clovis talk about that game, it’s as if the Wildcats were still wearing cleats when they held off the Cougars.

“We’d only had five practices (between the end of football season and) the first time we played them, and you could definitely tell,” Clovis coach J.D. Isler said. “We gave up a lot of easy baskets and we weren’t as smooth offensively.”

In the rematch, Isler sees two keys to beating the Cougars — limiting touches for post Jonathan Mader and never losing track of junior guard Andrew Apodaca, whom Isler regards as a tough spot-up 3-point shooter.

“Most teams haven’t shot well against us, but they shot pretty well from the outside,” said senior guard Jaden Isler, who scored a game-high 24 points in the Dec. 28 matchup.

The winner of today’s quarterfinal faces the winner of Rio Rancho and La Cueva in a 4:45 p.m. Thursday semifinal.

Coach Isler likes the rest of the field that’s in Class 5A, with District 4-5A rival Hobbs facing 10th-seeded Albuquerque High and 14-seeded Gallup coming in against sixth-seeded Mayfield.

“Albuquerque High’s on a roll right now; I don’t think they’ll be a pushover for Hobbs by any means,” Isler said. “Gallup’s going to come in really excited, and they’ll bring a huge fan base.”

Still, the Wildcats think they’ll be fine against anybody in the field, and coach Isler said he believes the players “are going with a purpose” to Albuquerque.

“I think we’re pretty prepared,” Clovis guard Manuel Robles said. “As long as we come out and play, we have a pretty good chance.”

No. 1 Clovis (27-1) vs. No. 8 Cibola (18-11)
When: 1:15 p.m. today
Where: The Pit in Albuquerque
How they got here: Clovis beat No. 16 Onate 89-64. Cibola beat No. 9 Sandia 56-42.
Last meeting: Clovis beat Cibola 73-70 in December in the Milk Cow Classic in Clovis.
Scouting report on Cibola: The Cougars are led by 6-4 senior F Jonathan Mader, 6-3 senior F Brandon Simpson and 6-0 junior G Andrew Apodaca.