Tigers go 2–0 against Moriarty

“Moriarty did a good job in their 3–2 zone and taking our post away,” Taos boys basketball head coach Hernando Chavez said. “We talked about at halftime that we wanted to press so that we could change the pace of the game. We felt like the pace was being played at Moriarty’s pace, not ours. So, we had to change the momentum.”

But there were signs the momentum was shifting toward the home team even before the third quarter. The Tigers tightened their defense and held their visitors to 4 points in the second. Despite getting stopped in the last possession, their defensive effort put the Tigers up momentarily in the second and ended the half 16–15.

Taos’ scoring came online in the third quarter, with the Tigers racking up 32 points combined in the third and fourth. Before the Tiger’s counterattack, Moriarty had built a 6-point lead, but the Tigers chipped away at their invader’s lead to end the quarter up by 3 points. Moriarty struggled to keep up with Taos’ 17 points in the fourth quarter, and the Tigers took their third win in the district.

“Our teamwork’s coming together, and I feel like we can rely on each other to knock down a shot and finish,” Junior forward Evan Salazar said after the contest. “[Los Alamos] is going to be a good game. Everyone in the district is giving their absolute best, and we just need to come out and execute.”

Junior Malakhai Ely led the team in scoring with 17 points, followed by junior Robert Trujillo with 13 points and two three-pointers made. Taos senior Mateo Salazar contributed 5 points, junior forward Brandon Mirabal had 4 and Roman Quintana had 3. Senior Pinto Jordan Brown led his squad with 10.

With the win, the Tigers conclude their district series with Moriarty as the victor with two wins in two meetings. Taos stood at 13–10 for the season with a 3–3 district record and a 7–3 home record this season as of press time. The boys varsity has two more games left in the district against Los Alamos on the road at 7 p.m. and at home against Española Valley on Friday (Feb. 21) at 7 p.m. The results against the Los Alamos game Tuesday (Feb. 18) were unavailable as of press time.

Lady Tigers lose by 2

On Thursday (Feb. 14) the Lady Tigers suffered a tough loss against the hosting Lady Pintos at Moriarty High School with a final score of 34–32.

The roaming Lady Tigers had a 20–12 lead in the first half against their hosts, but the Moriarty squad managed to hold Taos to 12 in the latter half. Despite their cushion, the Lady Tigers were held to 7 in the third and 5 in the fourth, while Moriarty had 9 and 13. The 2 extra points that the Pintos scored in the third quarter made a difference to put them over the top.

The loss put the Lady Tigers 2–4 in the district and 7–16 for the season. The Lady Tigers had a game against Los Alamos on Wednesday (Feb. 19) at 5:30 p.m. and results were unavailable as of press time. Taos will play their last game of the season in Española against the Lady Sundevils on Saturday (Feb. 22) at 1:30 p.m.