Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The Tucumcari boys basketball team captured the consolation bracket title with a 59-36 victory Saturday over Cottonwood Classical Prep at the West Las Vegas Brian Gallegos Memorial tournament.
Luis Archuleta scored 36 points to lead the Rattlers (2-1), whose only loss during the tourney was a 59-53 decision to Thoreau in the opening round Thursday.
Archuleta and Daymion Urioste each were named to the all-tournament team for THS.
Tucumcari, leading only 25-22 at intermission, seized control with a 34-14 second half.
Jermy Jones added eight points for the Rattlers against Cottonwood.
Tucumcari performed well despite being without starting center Kamren Apodaca, who was out for much of the tournament with an ankle injury suffered during the first game.
“We looked OK,” Tucumcari coach John Span said. “Anytime you go to a tournament and you win two games, that’s a good tournament.
“But I see a lot of things that we need to work on to improve. When we play better teams, we’re not going to get away with it.”
Asked about those areas of improvement, Span replied his Rattlers needing to box out more during rebounding opportunities, be a little quicker during transition, cutting down on turnovers and be more aggressive in attacking the basket and getting more free-throw chances.
Span noted, however, that Archuleta isn’t having a problem gaining free-throw opportunities.
“He’s the one that’s getting to the line. He shot 30-something free throws himself during the weekend. That’s kind of what we need to be doing. We need more people to be able to do that, especially when you’re not very good at scoring. You’re also getting their kid in foul trouble.”
Tucumcari 81, Newcomb 39
Archuleta scored 33 points to power the Rattlers to an 81-39 victory Friday in the consolation semifinal round of the West Las Vegas tourney.
Urioste added 21 points for the Rattlers, including four 3-pointers.
Tucumcari held a slim 33-30 lead at halftime, then blew Newcomb out of the water with a 48-21 second half.
Span noted his team had two games where it scored a lot of points in the second half.
“We got after them, and it was a difference in the ballgame,” he said.
The Skyhawks fell to 0-2.
Thoreau 59, Tucumcari 53
Tucumcari lost its season-opener Thursday by a 59-53 score to Thoreau in the first round of the West Las Vegas tourney.
The Rattlers led by as many as eight points in the first quarter, but the Hawks came storming back, including hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer of the period.
Thoreau kept surging in the second period and led 36-30 at intermission. Tucumcari rallied to within two points in the third period but never drew closer.
Archuleta scored 17 points to lead the Rattlers. Urioste and Jermy Jones each added nine points.
Thoreau improved to 1-1.