By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Friday night February 25, the number two seed Raton Tigers hosted the number three seed St. Mikes Horseman for a semifinal district 2AAA playoff that ended with the Horseman beating Raton by a 50 – 40 score and earning the right to take on Las Vegas Robertson for the district championship game Saturday night.
The first jump ball went awry and the second jump ball went to St Mikes who took it down and Adam Montoya missed the easy lay-up. Hoping this would be a trend for St. Mikes it was quickly proven wrong as Raton posted the first two followed by St Mikes dropping in two baskets to take the lead from which they never looked back on.
The first quarter continued with Raton not only missing the bucket but coming up short in the rebound department. The St Mikes defense held Raton to only five points. Raton only went to the free throw line once in the first half while the Horseman added four from the charity stripe. At halftime it was a 10 point difference 26-16.
The halftime breather led to more of the same with Raton held to single digits while St Mikes expanded the lead by five. The fourth quarter was different from the first three, as St Mikes went to the free throw line 15 times dropping in eight of their 10 points for the quarter. When the final buzzer sounded St Mikes had outscored Raton by 10. The number 10 was a recurring theme as Raton won by 10 earlier in the season at home and St Mikes won the second matchup game by 10.
St Mike’s will travel to Las Vegas for a district championship game with Robertson.
The NM State Basketball seeding show will be on Sunday afternoon where Raton and other area teams will find out if they will get an invite to the final dance.
St Mikes 12 14 14 10 50
Raton 5 11 9 15 40
St Mikes High Point
Devin Flores 21 – 9 of 13 free throws
Adam Montoya 9 – 0 for 1 free throws
Free throws 12 of 25 attempts
Raton High Point
Anderson Weese 17 – 2 of 3 free throws
Dylan Quartieri 9 – 2 3-pointers
Matthew Quartieri 7 – 1 of 2 free throws
Free throws 3 of 6 attempts
