By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Mult-Media
Raton basketball began the day, February 22, 2025, with the boys C-Team hosting the Santa Rosa Lions at Raton Intermediate School with five games on tap for the day, two at RIS and three at Tiger Gym, where not all went well.
The C-teams took the court earlier than normal at 12:30 at RIS where neither team could find the basket with Raton adding four to Santa Rosa’s five. Raton’s second quarter wasn’t much better dropping in only seven to SR’s 14. Raton’s third quarter again added only seven to the scoreboard. At the final buzzer it was a 61-27 win for Santa Rosa as they dropped in 20 points in the fourth to finish it off.
The first half of the girls JV game saw an aggressive and strong Santa Rosa defense simply dominate the Raton girls holding them to only eight points in the first half of the game. Second half saw both teams struggling to find the basket. By the middle of the third quarter there was a running clock to help ease the pain of the score which by the final buzzer ended up 57-11.
Over at RIS the boys JV game took place at the same time as the girls were playing at Tiger Gym and the boys didn’t fare much better holding single digit scores in the first three quarters while Santa Rosa doubled up with 20 just in the first quarter alone. Here again by the final buzzer Raton was down by 23 with a 58-35 final score.
The varsity girls knew it was going to be a tough game as the Lady Lions had won their first encounter 47-12. A tough Santa Rosa defense held Raton to a single point in the first and only allowed seven in the second. The Lady Lions forced turnovers, but they too were not making many baskets. Both teams woke up a bit in the fourth with Raton scoring 12 and SR dropping in 15. At the end of the game, it was a 17-point difference 43-26.
This being the last home games the seniors were honored with their last home game of the regular season.
The boys’ varsity game brought hope to the weary crowd as the 5-4 in district play Raton Tigers kept the game close with 8-1 Santa Rosa Lions. Raton tied the game at 14 and 16 but went into half time down by four. The third quarter continued the close game but then something happened in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter when Raton fell to a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter. But not to be held down the Tigers rallied and battled back to within eight, but it was too little too late as the old adage goes and ended the game down by 10 with a 52-52 final.
Boys C-Team
Santa Rosa 5 14 17 20 61
Raton 4 7 7 9 27
JV Girls
Santa Rosa 22 18 9 2 57
Raton 4 4 2 1 11
JV Boys
Santa Rosa 20 10 19 9 58
Raton 9 8 5 13 35
Varsity Girls
Santa Rosa 8 13 7 15 43
Raton 1 7 6 12 26
Santa Rosa High Point
Willow Johnson 8 2 of 3 free throws
Free Throws 6 of 11 attempts
Raton High Point
Alex Romero 9 3 3-pointers
Anisia Martinez 9 4 of 8 free throws
Free throws 9 of 21 attempts
Varsity Boys
Santa Rosa 12 13 17 20 62
Raton 11 10 14 17 52
Santa Rosa High Point
Maddox Lucero 22 5 of 6 free throws
Josh Cordova 17 0 of 1 free throws
Free Throws 10 of 15 attempts
Raton High Point
Tyler Petrini 14 5 of 5 free throws
Wyatt Berry 10 0 of 3 free throws
Chase Walton 0 of 3 free throws
Free Throws 7 of 14 attempts
