By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Raton Basketball participated in the 87th TSC Invitational Tourney held in Scott Gym on the Trinidad State College campus this last week culminating in the boys going for the championship game while the very young and inexperienced girls team took it down to the final quarter to finish the tourney.
The Lady Tigers started the season with a very young and inexperienced team this year as the team is made up of Freshman and one Sophomore. As the tourney got under way the girls showed their inexperience but as the tourney moved on one could definitely see a change in their play as they became a bit more confident and aggressive in their defense. Raton lost their first game to well seasoned Kim Lady Mustangs 45-14 in the first round of play.
Raton then took on Springer in the second round of play and lost that game 60-11. In the game for seventh place Raton took on the Johns Mall Lady Panthers from Walsenburg staying close most of the game. In the final minutes of the fourth quarter the Lady Panthers managed to pull ahead and finished the game 27-18.
The Raton boys missing a couple of players due to football all star game managed to beat the Kim Mustangs in a very close hard fought game by one. It came down to the last 12 seconds of the game with Raton up by one. Caleb Salazar was at the free throw line and could have added another two points but missed both free throws forcing the Mustangs into a do or die situation for the tie or the win. The Raton defense however prevailed and won the game 49-48 to move on in the second round.
Raton took on Springer and showed the Red Devils how it was done. Raton outscored Springer by 17 in the first quarter and 11 in the second quarter to finish out the half 53-26. At the end of the game Raton marked the scoreboard with 81 points while Springer showed 48 sending the Red Devils on to play for third place.
For the third place game in the girls bracket the Lady Demons managed to hold off the Kim Lady Mustangs for a 39-31 win. While Walsenburg bested the Springer Red Devils 75-68 for the third place win Saturday afternoon.
In the girls championship game the Hoehne Lady Farmers took off and simply dominated the Trinidad Lady Miners in a blow out game. Hoehne led 53-17 at half time and it looked like the Trinidad bucket had a cover on it. As the game wore on the Hoehne defense held Trinidad scoreless in the third and fourth quarters. Yes that is right Hoehne held the Lady Miners scoreless for an entire half of play to win the game 82-17.
In the boys championship game the Raton Tigers took on the Des Moines Demons. Raton took the early lead but Des Moines stayed close thing the game at the end of the first quarter. The Demons then pulled out in front and outscored Raton 11-6 in the second quarter to go into the locker room up 25-18. As the teams hit the court for the second half the Demons seemed to come out with a renewed vigor and dominated as Raton began to miss shots making only enough to stay within 10 points. As the buzzer sounded to end the game Raton was down by 12 and the Demons took home the Championship trophy with a 50-38 win.
Coach Rich Arguello Outstanding Coach – Kent Smith – Hoehne
All-Tournament Team – Girls
Primero – Isabela Maldonado
Kim – Charlee Buhrle
Des Moines – Holly Ward
Des Moines – Ali Poling
Springer – Fatima Levario
Springer – Abigail Eppler
Trinidad – Layla Maes
Trinidad – Monse Viera-Flores
Hoehne – Alessa Cantoria
Hoehne – Phoenix San Roman
Hoehne – Janae Ramos
All-Tournament Team – Boys
Primero – Mathew Pachorek
Hoehne – Levon Bachicha
Hoehne – Nathan Zamora
Springer – Devin Tafoya
Walsenburg – Gabe Barela
Walsenburg – Elton Chavez
Raton – Caleb Salazar
Raton – Christian Kamp
Des Moines – Noah Johnson
Des Moines – Nash Trujillo
Des Moines – Caleb Sumpter
