By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
The Dons of West Las Vegas traveled up to Raton Wednesday evening while the Lady Tigers travelled down to Vegas for the first District games of the 2019 season.
In Raton the Dons took home three wins as the C-Team played a fairly close game but when the final buzzer sounded West had a 57-46. The second and fourth quarters is where the Dons took control and made the push for the win out scoring Raton 16-6 in the second and 22-16 in the fourth.
The Jv game was another close game with neither team taking a large lead and at halftime Raton lead by one 17-16. The third quarter however made the difference in the game as West outscored Raton 14-8 to make the difference in the game. Both teams played a strong defensive game which kept the scores low in the final quarter for 39-34 West Las Vegas win.
In the varsity game the first quarter was a low scoring lopsided affair with Raton only finding the bucket from the free throw line and going 2 of 6 free throws While Antonio Bustamante dropping in three free throws after a foul on a longer than half court shot attempt. Raton however battled back with a defensive push and points when needed to take a brief lead then go down by two at 22-20.
Second half action saw West pull out a big lead at one point as much as 12 points only to see Raton put on the press and strong defense to once again tie the game and keep it close. West then managed to put together a scoring drive that put them up by 10. Raton again battled it out and was within four late in the game but bad passes and a couple of free throws ended the game with West ahead by five 61-56.
In Vegas the Raton girls suffered big losses to the Lady Dons.
C-Team WLV 65 Raton 15
JV WLV 45 Raton 14
Varsity WLV 73 Raton 22
Boys Games
C-Team Game
WLV 8 16 11 22 57
Raton 11 6 13 16 46
JV Game
WLV 6 10 14 9 39
Raton 11 6 8 9 34
Varsity Game
WLV 12 10 19 20 61
Raton 2 18 12 24 56
WLV High Point
DJ Byron 14
John Balizan 16 3 of 4 free throws 3x 3-pointers
Joseph Martinez 12 2 of 4 free throws
Free throws 13 of 21 attempts
Raton High Point
Ismael Tafoya 16 5 of 5 free throws
Aden Vanderwater 16 5 of 7 free throws
Jose Archuleta 11 3x 3-pointers
Matthew Quartieri 10 2 of 2 free throws
Free throws 12 of 16 attempts