The Estancia Bears will head out on the road to square off against the Raton Tigers at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. Estancia has now lost nine straight, leaving the team hunting for their first win since January 10.
Estancia is headed into the match out to prove that what happened against Pecos on Thursday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Estancia took a blow against Pecos, falling 68-39. The Bears were down 59-29 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.
Olavio Hernandez
| 02/06/25 @ Pecos | 15 |
| 12/20/24 @ Animas | 12 |
| 01/25/25 @ Clayton | 10 |
| 01/18/25 @ Logan | 10 |
| 12/14/24 @ Moriarty | 9 |
Despite the loss, Estancia had strong showings from Olavio Hernandez, who went 5 for 9 en route to 15 points, and Justin Rubio, who almost dropped a double-double on 15 points and nine boards. Those 15 points gave Hernandez a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Luis Perea, who posted four points.
Even though they lost, Estancia smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 11 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in four consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, it was a proper cat-fight when Raton challenged Santa Rosa on Thursday. Raton received a blow as they fell 75-59 to Santa Rosa. While losing is never fun, the Tigers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' New Mexico basketball rankings (they are ranked 94th, while the Lions are ranked 22nd).
Estancia will need focus on slowing down Chase Walton, one of several Raton players who made an impact when they last played. He dropped a double-double on 16 points and ten rebounds. Walton has become a key player for Raton: the team is 5-2 when he posts at least eight boards, but 5-7 otherwise. Wyatt Berry was another key player, almost dropping a double-double on 13 points and nine steals.
Raton's defeat ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 10-9. As for Estancia, their loss dropped their record down to 5-16.
Keep an eye on the arc in Saturday's game: Estancia has been dynamite from deep this season, having made 38.3% of their three-pointers per game. It's a different story for Raton, though, as they've only made 25.1% of their threes this season. Given Estancia's sizable advantage in that area, Raton will need to find a way to close that gap.
Estancia was dealt a bruising 74-42 defeat at the hands of Raton when the teams last played two weeks ago. Can Estancia avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
