By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Four games on tap for Raton as they hosted the Tucumcari Rattlers Thursday February 20, 2025, for a district matchup as the regular season draws to a close.
The JV Boys game was played at Raton Intermediate School where the Raton JV took the early lead ending the first quarter with a 24-7 score. The second quarter saw the reverse with Tucumcari outscoring Raton 12-4. Raton then went on to dominate the game with a final score of 73-42.
The JV Girls were on the court at Tiger Gym where the first quarter stayed close with Tucumcari holding on to a four-point lead at the end of the first. Raton stumbled the next two quarters managing to put up a total of six points. The fourth quarter however saw the ladies hit a scoring streak and drop in 17 points but were unable to overcome the short scoring in the second and third quarters giving Tucumcari the win 39-27.
The varsity girls took the court next, and Tucumcari showed Raton why they are sitting in a tie for first place in the district with Pecos and after last night’s game are sitting at 8-1 in the district play. Tucumcari held Raton to three points in the first quarter and scoreless in the third. Raton managed to pull out 12 points in the second quarter as the Tucumcari defense was simply too dominating for the Lady Tigers. At the final buzzer it was 68-20 for the Tucumcari win. Tucumcari will play Clayton on Saturday and with a win will be the district 6 champions followed by Pecos.
Coming into the Thursday evening game Raton was 4-4 in district play with Tucumcari sitting just behind with a 3-5 record. Closely matched the game could be a battle and a battle it was in the final quarter. Tucumcari took the first quarter lead 14-9 and in the second it was a 14-6 difference leaving Raton down by 13 at halftime.
The second half of the game saw Raton battle back but gaining ever so slowly until the fourth quarter when Raton caught fire and quickly began closing the gap. As time ticked down in the fourth Raton could see the light and by the last minute in the game tied the score and took the lead. However, at the buzzer it was tied, and the game went into overtime. It went back and forth in OT and with 2.5 seconds left in the game Wyatt Berry found himself at the line where he dropped in two free throws for the 55-53 win.
JV Girls
Tucumcari 8 12 10 9 39
Raton 4 3 3 17 27
JV Boys
Tucumcari 7 12 10 13 42
Raton 24 4 23 22 73
Varsity Girls
Tucumcari 32 20 11 5 68
Raton 3 12 0 5 20
Tucumcari High Point
Caylee Benavidez 14 7 of 10 free throws
Cambree Benevidez 11 5 of 5 free throws
July Lafferty 16 0 for 1 free throws
Kyla Lopez 9 5 of 7 free throws
Raton High Point
Alex Romero 5
Anisia Martinez 6 6 of 7 free throws
Free Throws 8 of 13 attempts
Varsity Boys
Tucumcari 14 14 11 9 5 53
Raton 9 6 14 19 7 55
Tucumcari High Point
Julian Griego 11 1 of 6 free throws
Luis Archuleta 13 4 of 6 free throws
Jermy Jones 9 5 of 8 free throws
Alijah Martinez 9 3 3-pointers
Free throws 12 of 22 attempts
Raton High Point
Josh Lopez 13 3 of 4 free throws
Chase Walton 12 0 of 1 free throws
Cannon Walton 11 1 of 1 free throws
Free throws 14 of 21 attempts
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