The 2021 Carlsbad Cavemen basketball team will unfortunately always be asking themselves what could have been for this season. Just like their female counterparts Carlsbad’s season came to an end because of a COVID-19 outbreak amongst the team.
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With it’s roster at full strength Carlsbad won its last four district games to qualify for the 5A playoffs and was scheduled to face No. 2 Roswell, a team the Cavemen had just beaten earlier in the week, 59-43. The outbreak forced a Carlsbad forfeit and gave Roswell a bye into the 5A semifinals.
The forfeit in the tournament gave Carlsbad an 8-4 record officially although the team only played in 11 games. Five Cavemen played in all 11 games.
With two COVID-19 outbreaks in the season and the football team finishing its season as basketball began head coach John Zumbrun played with a short bench in the start of the season and had eight Cavemen play at least nine games. Here’s what they did this season.
11 games
Andrew Miller, Senior #20
Miller was named to the District 4-5A All-District First Team. The senior played the second-most minutes with 317 and led the Cavemen as the floor general. He was second on the team with 113 points. Miller added 35 rebounds, led the team with 32 assists, 19 steals and four deflections. He was 17-for-52 (32.7 percent) from distance and was 24-for-36 (66.7 percent) from the free throw line to average 10.3 points a game.
Damien Perez, #10
The sophomore was also named to the District 4-5A All-District First Team. Perez led Carlsbad in scoring, rebounds, blocks and minutes played, averaging 12.3 points, 7.2 rebounds with 19 total blocks and played 343 minutes to average 31 minutes a game and added 13 assists.
Devin McWright, #15
The sophomore was third on the team in scoring with 89 points to average 8.1 a game and second on the team in rebounds with 53. McWright added 22 assists.
RJ Amos, #24
The sophomore scored 50 points for Carlsbad to average 4.5 per game. He was an impressive 10-for-12 (83.3 percent) from the free throw line. Amos added 20 rebounds and 14 assists.
Diego Pena-Parr, #5
The senior was limited to just 73 total minutes on the court but recorded 14 rebounds, 10 points, five assists, five steals and three deflections.
9 Games
Ayden Parent, #33
The senior was named to the All-District Second Team. Parent scored 58 points to average 6.4 a game. He added 26 rebounds and five assists.
Kyle Ramirez, #12
The senior pulled down 38 rebounds, scored 24 points, recorded nine steals, three pass deflections and one block.
Tylen Gonzalez, #55
The sophomore center scored 50 points to average 5.6 a game. Gonzalez had two steals, two pass deflections and one block on the season.
Matthew Asher can be reached at 575-628-5524, masher@currentargus.com or @Caveman_Masher on Twitter.
