Warriors repel Rattlers' bid as spoilers

For a little while, it appeared the Tucumcari boys basketball team might act as spoilers in Ruidoso's quest to capture a district championship.

However, a scoring drought in the second quarter, plus red-hot shooting from behind the 3-point line in the third quarter by the Warriors, foiled the Rattlers' plans in a 60-42 loss Friday at Rattler Gymnasium.

Ruidoso (14-11) captured the regular-season district title with a 5-1 mark and landed the No. 1 seed in this week's district tournament. The Warriors will host the championship game at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Tucumcari (8-14, 2-4) was seeded third and will face Dexter (9-17, 1-5) in the tourney's opening round at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Rattler Gymnasium. (The game was after the Quay County Sun's deadline.) The Rattlers split two games with the Demons this season.

The winner of that game will go to second-seeded New Mexico Military Institute (14-10, 4-2) in Roswell for the tourney semifinal at 6 p.m. Thursday.

On Friday, the Rattlers started fast, surging to an 8-4 lead on buckets by Luis Archuleta and Kamren Apodaca. Tucumcari led 10-9 at the end of the first quarter.

But Tucumcari's shooting went into the deep freeze in the second period. The Rattlers didn't score for almost 6 1/2 minutes and didn't make a field goal until almost intermission. By then, Ruidoso had rallied to a 27-15 lead.

It wasn't the first time this season the Rattlers had suffered from scoring droughts, but it was no less mystifying to Tucumcari coach Gary Hittson.

"I don't know ... we have we have games like that where we can't score," he said, shaking his head.

Hittson said his team played poorly in other aspects of its game. He noted the team has a goal of making 45 rebounds, and the Rattlers made just 23. Tucumcari also shot just 38% from the field and 17% from the 3-point line. The Rattlers also committed 17 turnovers.

Archuleta and Apodaca each scored 11 points to lead the Rattlers. Cyler Ramos led Ruidoso with 23 points.

A Tucumcari rally in the third quarter might have gotten them back into the game. But Ruidoso eighth-grade guard Mason Fikany made four of his five 3-pointers during the period, including one at the buzzer to give his team a 43-23 lead.

Hittson said he warned his players about Fikany's shooting.

"We watched the little No. 4 (Fikany) in the JV game," Hittson said. "And we said we told them if No. 4 comes in, we got to be on him. Sometimes I think it goes in one ear and out the other."

After that, the Rattlers struggled to close the gap to less than 20 points.

"I was concerned when they jumped on us" in the first quarter, Ruidoso coach Mike Trujillo said, "and I was glad that we were able to play with some poise and finish it. I have confidence in our kids that they're going to finish hard and and make things happen. And I think that's what we did."

NMMI 73, Tucumcari 41

The Colts knocked the Rattlers out of district contention with a resounding 73-41 victory last Tuesday at Roswell.

NMMI led 19-9 after the first quarter and 39-22 at halftime to take control. The Colts put the game out of reach with a 21-11 third-quarter surge.

Archuleta was the only Rattlers player in double-figures scoring, with 16 points. Apodaca made 11 rebounds.

Lorenzo Peral led the Colts with 25 points.