Tigers forfeit eight of nine basketball wins

Fifth-year senior is ruled ineligible

What has been a down year for the Taos boys basketball team got decidedly worse when eight of its nine wins were stripped from its record recently, leaving it with a 1-25 mark.

Tigers athletic director Nikki McCarty said she got an anonymous email last week about the team having a fifth-year senior on the squad and began to investigate.

“We only had three seniors on the team and immediately, right away, I knew two of them were OK because they played basketball with my son in middle school,” she said.

In looking into the background of the unnamed third senior, however, McCarty said she quickly realized something was amiss.

“The transcripts were not real clear,” she said. “From his grades, he was eligible and it even said he was in 11th grade, but I knew he was a senior.”

The problem, however, arose from the player briefly dropping out of school last school year before returning and not fully making up the classes.

“It turns out he should have graduated last year,” McCarty said. “I even talked with his mom last year when he was coming back for the second semester and she asked if he could be on the team. And I told her it’s too late in the season.”

She encouraged him to get involved with the team in preparation for this season, she said, not realizing he had completed his eligibility.

“I knew the bylaw,” McCarty said. “I just overlooked it. I immediately notified (the) NMAA, I self-reported. I thought he was a senior and behind on credits. I didn’t check transcripts. Unfortunately, it was a costly mistake. How do I protest that? I can’t try to protest. We were wrong and we violated the bylaws.”