By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
The Raton Tigers hosted the Santa Fe Prep Blue Griffins for the last home game of the regular season and Tiger Fest Saturday afternoon February 19 and both the JV and varsity teams marked the win column to move closer to a second seed in the district tourney coming up next week.
The Tigers have a makeup game on Monday February 21 with Robertson in Las Vegas to determine the final district standings before embarking on to the district tourney later in the week. If Raton maintains second place in the district they should see a game on Friday night in Raton with the winner of that game going on to the district championship on Saturday most likely in Las Vegas at Robertson High as Robertson is currently first in District 2AAA with a 8-1 record with a win over West Saturday night. (Link to District 2AAA Standings )
The JV game got underway with a no score game in the first couple of minutes before Raton took a 14-6 run in the first quarter. The Griffins turned the table in the second quarter going 16-6 on Raton going into halftime with a 22-20 lead. Raton then took the third quarter with stiff defensive play and a hot hand at the basket to drop in 22 points. Fourth quarter action was a defensive game as both teams held the other to single digit scores. At the buzzer Raton managed to hold on to a nine point lead for a 51-42 final.
The varsity game was another slow start as neither team scored in the first two and a half minutes. Then it went tit for tat as Raton dropped in three 3-pointers to end the quarter tied at 13 after the Blue Griffins held on to a tight lead. Second quarter action was close with ties and Raton finally taking the lead followed by a tie then they took the lead for good with only a three point deficit at halftime.
Third quarter action was goose egg for Santa Fe Prep with the Raton defense working the ball and Santa Fe Prep unable to get the ball to go in, shot after shot simply bounced off the rim or was a total air ball. Raton took advantage and did a 22 point lead to end the third. It was even steven for the fourth quarter with both teams dropping 22 points of which 20 came off the hand of Finn Coles for Santa Fe Prep. At the buzzer Raton took the win for the Tiger Fest ball game 69-47.
JV Game
Santa Fe 6 16 11 9 42
Raton 14 6 22 9 51
Varsity Game
Santa Fe 13 12 0 22 47
Raton 13 15 19 22 69
Santa Fe Prep High Point
Finn Coles 30 13 of 15 free throws
Malachi Prevatt 8 0 for 2 free throws
Free throws 16 of 22 attempts
Raton High Point
Will Berry 12 4 of 4 free throws
Matthew Quartieri 16 5 of 8 free throws
Cayden Walton 10 1 of 1 free throws
Free throws 16 of 21 attempts
