By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
It was a late start for the district playoff game in Raton as the Tigers hosted the Estancia Bears in Tiger Gym after the Bears suffered a bus malfunction and arrived late in Raton.
It was a slow start for the 5-5 Raton Tigers as Estancia made the first mark in the scorebook and went on to hold Raton to a 10-8 first quarter. As the second quarter got underway the Tigers found the rhythm and started adding points to the scoreboard as Josh Lopez dropped in two 3-pointers. Tyler Petrini, Wyatt Berry, Lorenzo Anaya and Chase Walton all added points at the free throw line. Estancia could only muster three out of eight at the line in the second quarter. Steve Barela added two and Marcos Lucero added one. At the halftime buzzer Raton lead the game 30-25.
Even though Estancia came into the game 0-10 in district play they never gave up the game and kept it close in the second half as well. Raton beat Estancia in both regular season games this year by 32 in the first meeting and only 15 in the second match up. Based on the scoring the Bears continued to improve throughout the season and this game saw the Bears give Raton a run for their money. At one point in the third Estancia had battled back to within two points but Raton quickly rallied and spread the score out.
Raton also allowed the Bears to stay close with turnovers with long passes down court and long passes across the court. As the end of the game neared Raton had extended their lead by 10. Coach Walton played the rest of his bench to finish out the game ending it with a 51-41 score.
Raton will move on to play Pecos in Pecos on Thursday evening after Pecos lost to Santa Rosa 67-62.
Estancia 10 15 9 7 41
Raton 8 22 11 10 51
Estancia High Point
Jerin LaJeunesse 10 1 of 4 free throws
Justin Rubio 14 0 for 8 free throws
Free Throws 6 of 22 attempts
Raton High Point
Wyatt Berry 17 6 of 7 free throws
Lorenzo Anaya 14 3 of 8 free throws
Free throws 13 of 23 attempts
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