Foxes storm by Longhorns for EPAC crown

The top-seeded Fort Sumner boys basketball team stormed to a 17-point lead in the first quarter and cruised to an 81-54 victory Saturday over third-seeded Logan in the title game of the Plateau EPAC Tournament at Texico.

The Foxes, ranked second in Class 1A by MaxPreps.com, grabbed a 31-14 lead after one period and was in control by halftime with a 49-22 advantage.

Fort Sumner, led by Clay Norman's 23 points, drained 13 shots from 3-point range.

"When they're shooting like that, they're hard to beat," Logan coach Kyle Griffiths said.

Logan (11-4) was led by Brock Burns and Mason Wallin, each who scored nine points.

"I told the guys I was proud of them," Griffiths said. "A Logan team hasn't even made it to the (EPAC) championship in eight years. We have to just look past that one and learn from it and continue to work to get better every day."

Fort Sumner's only losses have been to Class 5A power Las Lunas and defending Class 1A champion Magdalena.

Logan 56, Dora 49

At Texico, the Longhorns advanced to the title game of the Plateau EPAC Tournament with a 56-49 victory Friday over second-seeded Dora.

The second quarter proved to be the difference. Logan outscored the Coyotes 22-10 during the period to take a 34-25 lead at halftime.

"The boys were locked in against Dora," Griffiths said. "Defensively, we did a great job on their big man and offensively we hit some timely shots. I felt like we played with a lot of confidence."

Burns scored 18 points to lead the Longhorns, and Kaeden Stoner added 11.

Dora's 6-foot-5 center, Steven Masini, scored 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead Dora.

Dora fell to 10-2, with both of its losses to the Longhorns.

Logan 86, Grady 73

The Longhorns led by nearly 30 points over Grady during the first round Thursday of the Plateau EPAC Tournament but had trouble putting the Bronchos away despite an 86-73 victory.

Griffiths said after the game his players were a bit glum. Several times, the Longhorns stormed to big leads (fueled by a dozen 3-point shots), only to see the sixth-seeded Bronchos (3-4) answer with scoring runs of 10-0 late in the second period and 11-0 and 9-0 in the fourth quarter.

"Grady's a scrappy bunch," Griffiths said. "They never gave up and never quit. I was telling the guys we kept getting big leads and they kept coming right back. It's a learning experience for us. We've got to learn to finish games and not relax when we get a lead."

Burns led Logan with 21 points, and Park Strong added 20. Nine Logan players were in the scoring column.

Grady junior Zane Rush led all scorers with 36 points.

Reserve tourney

Logan's next game is at 4 p.m. Thursday against Pine Hill (3-10) at the Reserve tournament.

Other teams at the three-day event are Melrose, Animas, Quemado, Alamo Navajo, Reserve and Mountainair.