By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
The 85th Cowbell Tournament got underway Tuesday December 6, 2022 in Sim Brown Gym on the Springer High School campus with four games.
The Raton JV were pulled into the tourney to replace the Wagon Mound teams who had to pull out due to illnesses of several players. Of the eight games in the first round only one game went down to the wire with a three point spread at the buzzer as Cimarron bested Questa 38-35. Several of the games started out tight and kept it close until the second half of the game when one team would pull away to take the game.
Thursday evening competition had a one game break as the Roy/Mosquero Blue had to pull out of the tourney due to illness allowing the Raton JV to move on to the Consolation Championship game on Saturday. With the exception of game 11 all the games were close to the finish. The Raton JV battled against Questa and kept that game close until the second half when the Lady Wildcats broke away and slowly spread the score winning by 24.
In game nine The Lady Demons and Lady Bears battled it out going down to the wire where free throws could have taken the game either way. Des Moines went six of 19 and Maxwell ended up with 12 of 27 from the free throw line.
Game 12 of the night saw the Springer Red Devils and the Questa Wildcats go head to head with Springer pulling out by several points only to find themselves up by two or tied. Questa at one point late in the game was down by 12 and battled back to tie the game and go ahead by five only to see a seven point run by the Red Devils to retake the lead. Free throws kept Springer in this game as Springer did 18 of 31 free throws while Questa only went to the line seven times and dropped in three.
On Friday afternoon the Cowbell Tourney moves to Tiger Gym in Raton where the crowds grew compared to last year and were not disappointed as the basketball action took to the court with an exciting game between the Raton Lady Tigers and Springer Lady Red Devils. The game stayed close but as the buzzer sounded the end of the game Springer prevailed with an eight point win. The other girls game of the evening saw the Lady Blue put the pressure on the Lady Rams and won the game by a 24 point spread to set up the championship game against Springer and Roy/Mosquero Saturday night.
The boys side of the bracket saw two great games Friday night with Raton taking on Des Moines in a game that stayed very close all four quarters and a tie game late in the fourth. Raton however managed to prevail and win the game by five. The late game of the evening brought Maxwell and Cimarron to the court where fans were once again not disappointed with a close game that saw Maxwell put the pressure to Cimarron and finally win the game by 10 setting up Maxwell and Raton for the championship game Saturday night.
Due to illness the Roy/Mosquero boys pulled out allowing the girls to begin at 10:30 instead of 9:00 Saturday morning with the Raton JV girls taking on Des Moines who bested the Lady Tigers 48-27. In the girls consolation game Questa outscored Maxwell 51-27 and the boys saw Springer struggle in the first half to keep ahead of Raton. In the second half they pulled it away topped the JV team 71-42.
On the winner’s side of the brackets the girls took the court first with Raton and Cimarron playing for the third place trophy. Raton played the game they needed to making the baskets and free throws much better than they had the previous week in Trinidad. At the buzzer Raton had toppled Cimarron by 15. In the boys third place game Cimarron battled Cimarron where the Demons got into foul trouble early in the game. With key players spending time on the bench the Rams continued to struggle to take advantage of the situation. Yet the Ram bench came on and performed at varsity level and not only kept Cimarron in the game but put them ahead of the Demons. At the buzzer three Demons had fouled out and the Rams could only muster a four point win.
In the girl’s championship game district rivals Roy/Mosquero and Springer took the court with a truly championship play that went down to the wire. The Lady Blue took the early lead and held that lead into the fourth quarter where they lead 38-30. At the buzzer the Lady Red Devils had outscored the Lady Blue 18-8 and took the lead for the win by two. This was one of the many games in the tourney that could have gone either way had the girls made more free throws. Springer had 8 of 21 free throws while the Lady Blue did 15 of 25. Every Lady Blue player that went to the line did better than 50% with the exception of Tayla Proffitt who went 2 for 10. Springer’s Valeria Balderama who went to the line 12 times only added three points.
In the boy’s championship game the free throws were once again a huge factor in this barn burner that went into overtime after a Rowen Floyd free throw made it 53-51 with seven seconds left. Anderson Weese took the ball and flew down the court for the layup and a tie game. In the four minute OT the Bears dropped in eight of eight free throws and only scored one 2-point field goal while Raton went one of two at the charity line. At the buzzer the Bears had managed to outscore Raton by 10-7 for the Cowbell. Maxwell went to the line 42 times and sunk 33, that 33 points from the free throw line while Raton made four of 16 attempts.
Girl’s Championship
Roy/Mosquero 16. 10. 12. 8 46
Springer 9. 8. 13. 18. 48
R/M High Point
Sylvania Baca 14 5 of 5 free throws
Selma Baca 13 2 of 2 free throws. 3 3-pointers
Tayla Proffitt 4. 2 of 10 free throws
Tanna Crisp 5. 3 of 4 free throws
Natalie Smith 5
Nora Crisp 4 2 of 4 free throws
Free throws 14 of 25 attempts
Springer High Point
Naomi Rivera 16 3 of 4 free throws
Valeria Balderama 16 3 of 12 free throws
Olivia Burton 5 0 of 1 free throws
Brenna Duran 4 1 of 2 free throws
Abigail Eppler 7 1 of 2 free throws
Free throws 8 of 21 attempts
Boy’s Championship
Raton 15. 11. 9. 21 7. 60
Maxwell 16 19 8 10 10. 63
Raton High Point
WD Hyer 9 2 of 2 free throws
Wyatt Berry 4
Jacob Mattorano 2 0 of 5 free throws
Tyler Petrini 9.
Mario Alvarez. 2
Cayden Walton 11. 0 for 2 free throws
Anderson Weese 21. 1 of 6 free throws
Chase Walton 5
Free throws. 4 of 16 attempts
Maxwell High Point
JJ Apodaca 5 3 of 6 free throws
Rowen Floyd 12 3 of 5 free throws
Tristen Pierce 23 9 of 12 free throws
Orren Floyd 18 9 of 10 free throws
Christopher Hoy. 3 3 of 4 free throws
Free throws 33 of 42 attempts
Front Row. L to R Gianna Marez, Anisia Martinez, Samanatha Phillips, Reyna Marquez, Allison Gigante, Jennifer Mattorano Back Row L to R Sophie Mdeina, Antonella Guttirez, Addison Medina, Paige Lemons
