Bobcats slip past Socorro 48-43

FARMINGTON — The Bloomfield boys basketball team found a way to win this afternoon, sneaking past Socorro (1-3) 48-43 in the third-place game at the Henry Sanchez tournament in Bernalillo.

“It was pretty close the whole way. There were a lot of fouls called on both teams, and it was pretty sloppy with a lot of turnovers,” Bloomfield coach Randy Crockett said. “We shot our free throws well, and that really helped us.”

The Bobcats (1-1) connected on 18 of their 24 free throws.

Aside from the strong performance at the charity stripe, Crockett said the Bobcats executed the offense well and got clean looks at the basket, but added that numerous turnovers were an issue.

“The kids ran the offense well enough, we just had too many turnovers,” Crockett said. “I think it’s something we need to work on. Three or four times today, we tried to do something with the ball before we caught it. We just have to secure the ball first.”

Adriano Stevenson led Bloomfield with 14 points, and Brandon Charley added 12. Crockett said the pair of seniors did a good job of playing aggressively and attacking the basket.

Bloomfield will play Shiprock (0-1) on Tuesday at the Chieftain Pit in Shiprock.

“The main thing we’re going to stress to the guys is taking care of the basketball and staying poised,” Crockett said. “We lost our poise a couple times tonight, and it cost us some turnovers. That’s something we need to work on.”

Karl Schneider is the sports editor for The Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4648.