Mike Smith
Artesia Daily Press
msmith@currentargus.com

Thirty years is a long time. But for coach Bubba Jennings and members of his 1994-95 Artesia Bulldogs, time has not diminished the glory of winning Artesia High School’s first state basketball championship.

Jennings, players Andrew Patterson and Ty Houghtaling and other team members were honored Dec. 7 during halftime of the City of Champions Classic title game at Artesia High School’s Red Brick Gym.

Jennings coached at Artesia from 1990 to 1999, guiding the Bulldogs to the state title in ’95 and a second championship in 1997. He also played at Clovis High School where his team won the 4A state championship in 1979.

As a college basketball player at Texas Tech from 1980 to 1985, Jennings was a four-time All-Southwest Conference selection.

Before the halftime ceremony honoring his 1994-95 Bulldogs, Jennings said his family had good memories of living in Artesia and said he appreciated the reunion with his players.

“It’s really a nice chance to get back and meet with them again,” he said. “I haven’t seen them all together in a long time. It’s great to be here with them.”

Jennings recalled that when he was considering taking the job in Artesia he asked his would-be bosses if they wanted a winning basketball program.

“They said yes they did. It took us a while to get it started. But we really worked with the kids … and developed a program and had some really good athletes and really good basketball players and we were able to put everything together,” he said.

Jennings said the 1995 Bulldogs worked their way through the regular season and the district tournament and made it to the state semifinals against the Grants Pirates, winning a 73-72 thriller by overcoming a 10-point deficit with 50 seconds to play.

“We got it down to five with 15 seconds left and we hit a three. We didn’t have any timeouts left and our guys were scrambling around trying to foul somebody to get the clock stopped.”

Jennings said Houghtaling stole a Grants inbound pass and threw the ball to Patterson under the basket.

“Andrew went up and right as he laid it in, they fouled him,” Jennings said.

Patterson sank the winning free throw with less than three seconds remaining on the clock, advancing the Bulldogs to the title game and an 82-73 win over Albuquerque Academy.

Patterson said the championship game provided great memories as the Bulldogs were known for winning state championships in football.

“For me, growing up a in a football town, I wanted to play basketball,” he said.

Patterson, an engineer who now lives in Albuquerque, said Jennings had a passion for basketball and that was a spark for the championship team.

Houghtaling, a three-time football champion, said the basketball team understood its role with Jennings.

“We were unselfish. We had guys that shot a high percentage, and we got the ball in their hands. There was just a lot of chemistry,” he said.

Houghtaling said the seed for a basketball championship was planted with a basketball goal and a video camera in the backyard of the Patterson home.

“We would watch film after pickup games,” he said. “We had one of our managers get on the roof with the video camera and we were always worried he was going to fall off the roof. He wasn’t very coordinated, and we’d play four-on-four, five-on-five. Just had good chemistry with our players,” he said.

Houghtaling said the basketball team made it to the state playoffs during his sophomore year and struggled during his junior season but hit its stride during his senior season in 1995.

Houghtaling still lives in Artesia. He’s lead pastor at First Baptist Church.

Jennings, 62, has spent 32 years coaching at the high school and collegiate levels. He is currently head basketball and golf coach at Dallas Baptist University.

Mike Smith can be reached at 575-308-8734 or email at msmith@currentargus.com.