By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Tigerfest activities brought Tiger Gym to life as mum presentation to parents, Lil Cheer performances, royalty presentation and a boys ball game all took place Saturday afternoon.
The gym was filled with parents there to see the Lil Cheer girls and Tigerfest Royalty before the Raton Tigers took to the court for the last district game of the season which turned out to be one those last minute heartbreakers as the the Desert Academy Wildcats pulled out a come from behind win. The girls did not play Saturday as Desert Academy forfeited the game earlier in the week citing a lack of players.
Raton struggled to get a good lead on the game outscoring the Wildcats by three in the first quarter of which Jesse Espinoza was responsible for with two of his five 3-pointers on the evening. The Wildcats struggled and soon fell behind even further and took a nine point deficit to the locker room as Espinoza rounded out his five 3-pointers.
As the boys came out after halftime the tempo took a change as Raton faltered and began missing more shots than they managed to put in. The Wildcats also worked to shut down Espinoza and soon Espinoza went cold not scoring a single point in the second half. The Wildcats put on the press which caused the Tigers problems as they turned the ball over several times. Austin Jones was about the only player to score more than a couple in the second half as the Wildcats John Rigotti opened up the hoop for the Wildcats as he knocked down 14 of his 23 points.
The fourth quarter saw Raton simply go cold and only score five points to Desert Academy’s 13 which was enough to give them the lead and the win as the final buzzer sounded.
Desert 12 12 14 13 51
Raton 15 18 10 5 48
Desert High Point
Sunday Khalsa 10 1 of 2 at the line
Taso Warsa 10 0 for 2 at the line
John Rigatti 23 5 of 8 free throws
Free Throws 6 of 12 attempts
Raton High Point
Jesse Espinoza 20 1 of 1 free throws 5 3-pointers
Austin Jones 12 1 of 3 free throws
Free Throws 2 of 5 attempts
