Tigers shred Rams to advance to quarterfinals
The Taos Tigers never took their foot off the pedal versus the Portales Rams on Saturday (March 4) after jumping out to a 19-10 lead in the first quarter, en route to a 63-44 victory.
Portales couldn’t figure out the Tiger zone. Daemon Ely and Xavier Duke were waiting inside the paint to contest any Ram willing to shoot over the top. Xodus Gomez had a few impressive acrobatic finishes but too often found it difficult to score.
Noah Washington set the tone for the Tigers by stepping up and knocking down four 3-pointers in the first half. Taos held a slight lead over Portales up until Washington caught fire. From thereon the Rams had to play catchup as they were down double digits for most of the game.
“He caught fire,” coach Hernando “Nando” Chavez said after the game. “He’s a kid who’s actually shot the ball for us pretty well all season long. I don’t think anybody expected him to come out and hit those four threes but he stepped off in a State game and he hit big shots. And those four threes right there they were early in the first quarter into the second quarter, that really set the tone.”
The two-man game from one big to another in Duke and Ely worked wonders for Taos. From Duke’s 6’5” higher-up vantage point, he hit Ely with some x-ray passes leaving Ely wide open underneath the rim for an easy layup.
Taos turned the ball over 10 times in the third quarter, giving Portales a slight opening back into the ball game. The Rams won the third quarter 13-12 but couldn’t pull through in the fourth. The Tigers’ offensive rebounding plus a rare Duke 3-pointer closed it out for Taos.
The Tigers had four players scoring in double digits. Ely led the way with 18 points; Washington scored 13; Apodaca provided 10 points; and Duke tallied 10 points in the winning effort. Taos still struggles mightily at the free throw line, shooting 45 percent from the charity stripe.
As of Tuesday’s (March 7) press deadline, Taos faces a tough opponent in the second ranked Highland Hornets on Wednesday (March 8).
The Hornets have a better record, 7-1, against common opponents. Highland routed Pojoaque Valley 84-41 in the first round to make it to the quarterfinals. The Hornets average 66.5 points a game compared to Taos’ 57.7 points a game. The Tigers have the more active defense as they average 8.4 steals and 4.9 blocks a game compared to Highlands 7.7 steals and 2 blocks a game.
“If anyone thinks we’re gonna go in there and just lay over for these guys, that’s absolutely crazy. We’re gonna give them everything that they can handle and we’re going in there to win that game,” Nando said.