Top-seeded Horsemen overwhelm Rattlers

The 16th-seeded Tucumcari boys basketball team was hanging tough against top-seeded St. Michael’s during its first-round playoff game Saturday at Santa Fe, with the Rattlers trailing just 13-11 at one point.

Then the roof fell in.

The Horsemen outscored the Rattlers 47-20 in the second and third quarters to secure a dominating 75-42 victory and advance in the Class 3A tournament.

St. Michael’s (24-4) plays ninth-seeded Socorro (12-16) in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. The semifinals and finals are Friday and Saturday.

The Rattlers briefly took a 4-2 lead in Saturday’s game and trailed 13-11 late in the period.

But Tucumcari committed an ill-advised shooting foul behind the 3-point line with seconds left in the quarter. The Horsemen converted all three shots for a 17-11 lead at quarter’s end.

St. Michael’s surged to a 42-25 lead at intermission and 64-31 after three quarters.

“We got off to a decent start,” Tucumcari coach John Span said. “Turnovers hurt us. I don’t know if they wore us down or what, but we were throwing the ball away too much there. We missed a few easy shots inside and some free throws.

“We knew they were going to (pressure) us. I thought we’d handle it better the whole game, but we didn’t. They play hard, and they attack, attack, attack, attack.”

Curtis Gonzales and Karen Apodaca each scored 15 points to lead the Rattlers. Luis Archuleta added eight points.

Tucumcari, a surprise entry in the state tournament, ended its season with a 9-17 record.

The Rattlers went through ups and downs during the regular season but still landed a No. 2 seed during the district tournament despite starting three freshmen at one point.

“The future for these guys looks good,” Span said of his young players. “We played a team like Ruidoso with nine seniors, one junior and one sophomore — a veteran ball club — and we had a couple of times where I felt like we could have beat them.”

Tucumcari loses only two seniors — Gonzales and co-captain Tyrus Jones.

“Curtis really contributed on the team with his ability to score to handle the ball,” Span said.

“Tyrus isn’t a big scorer, but his leadership in practice was good. In practice, I could send the players off in a group, and he’d make sure they were doing it. I didn’t need to watch them. They were like coaches on the court. I don’t know if could have had any better leaders.”