Rattlers rally past ranked Raton

The Tucumcari boys basketball team overcame an eight-point deficit early in the fourth quarter to rally for a 66-62 victory over state-ranked Raton in the Rattlers' home opener on Thursday.

Luis Archuleta scored 10 of his team-leading 19 points in the fourth quarter for Tucumcari. Julian Griego, who added 11 points and eight rebounds, scored a critical three-point play to tie it with two minutes remaining, then sank two free throws with nine seconds left to secure the victory.

Kamren Apodaca added 13 points for the Rattlers, and Jordan Rincones totaled 10 points and 10 rebounds.

"We just didn't give up, and we rebounded like crazy. We had some kids who turned it on tonight," THS coach Gary Hittson said, noting his squad totaled 40 rebounds. "And that's a great team we beat that was No. 8 (in Class 3A) coming in."

Tucumcari won its third in a row and improved to 4-5. Raton fell to 5-4.

Neither team had more than a five-point lead in the first half until Rincones scored on a fastbreak just before the halftime buzzer to give his team a 34-28 advantage.

But the Rattlers have shown a bad habit this season of scoring slumps in the third period, and that tendency resurfaced again. Tucumcari scored just three field goals during the quarter and watched their six-point lead evaporate into a seven-point deficit.

Meanwhile, Raton's Christian Kamp scored 15 points, including three 3-point shots, during the period to give his team a 50-43 lead.

Hittson told his team in the huddle between periods it needed to get its act together.

"I told them we needed to control the ball and hit the boards," he said. "We did that."

At one point early in the final quarter, Raton surged to a 53-45 lead.

But the Rattlers went on an 18-6 run in the next 4 1/2 minutes to take a 63-59 lead with 1:06 left.

Archuleta and Urioste each made 3-pointers during the rally, and Griego tied it with his traditional three-point play when he was fouled while going strong to the hoop.

Kamp made a 3-pointer to cut Tucumcari's lead to 63-62 with 53 seconds left. The Rattlers then played keep-away with the ball until Rincones was fouled with 15.4 seconds remaining.

Rincones made the first foul shot for a 64-62 lead. He missed the second, but Griego rebounded and was fouled with 11.9 seconds remaining. He made both free throws for a 66-62 lead.

Raton attempted a 3-pointer in the waning seconds, but it missed and bounced out of bounds during a scramble for the rebound.

Tucumcari got the ball back and needed only a couple of inbounds passes to run out the clock.

Tucumcari 43, East Mountain 34

Tucumcari took a double-digit lead by halftime and held it despite a slowdown in scoring in the second half during a 43-34 non-district victory at East Mountain on Dec. 19.

Luis Archuleta led the Rattlers with 16 points and six steals. Kamren Apodaca added 10 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots. Daymion Urioste totaled seven points and five assists, and Jordan Rincones had eight points and a team-high 12 rebounds.

THS coach Gary Hittson said an excellent defensive performance played a key role in the win.

"The defense looked great," he said. "Fifty seconds or a minute would go by before they could get a shot off."

Tucumcari also committed just two turnovers during the first half.

The Rattlers took a 32-20 lead at intermission and led by as much as 16 in the second half.

Tucumcari scored just 11 points in the second half, but so did East Mountain.

"In the second half, we got tired," Hittson said. "(East Mountain) turned up their defense, which was good; we needed to go through our offense. But we couldn't buy a basket.

"Our defense was great, but we need to put a complete game together."

The Timberwolves fell to 2-2.