Rattlers advance to District 5 3A championship

link Rattler John Paul Garcia takes flight to block the shot of Lion’s Nathan Sanchez during Thursday’s District 5 3A game against Santa Rosa at the Snake Pit. The Rattlers won 75-40 and have advanced to the District 5 championship against the Clayton Yellowjackets. The championship game will begin at 4 p.m. Saturday at Clayton.

QCS Senior Writer

The Tucumcari Rattlers—22-4, 5-2—will travel to Clayton Saturday to contend for the District 5 3A championship after beating the Santa Rosa Lions 75-40 Thursday night at the Snake Pit.

“We played good tonight, but I still think we can do better,” said Rattler Zedric Henderson Greene. “In fact I know we need to play better if we plan on beating Clayton in Clayton.”

Rattler coach John Span echoed Greene’s statement.

“People might wonder why I’m getting after the guys when we are ahead,” Span said. “I’m getting after them because they are not doing what they are supposed to do.”

Span said even in the lead the Rattlers need to take better care of the ball and execute the fundamentals. It is essential for the Rattlers to do what they have been told to do, taught to do and practiced to do, he said, and in every game win, lose or blow-out, it’s important to be fundamentally sound all the time.

On Thursday, a dominant Rattler team combined 3-pointers from John Paul Garcia (3) and D’Ontee Sandoval (1), with scores on 10 of 13 free throws and control of the rebounds to take the early lead and stifle the Lions’ offensive production in the first half.

The Lions—17-10, 3-5—were trailing by 12 points at half-time and only managed to score four points in the second period.

“We haven’t played defense like that in a while, it’s something that we need to do all the time,” said Sandoval.

Turnovers also hurt the Lions in the first half, as several possessions ended with out-of-bounds throws or steals by the Rattlers.

The Lions’ woes carried into the third period. The Rattlers’ Garcia hit two 3-pointers and teammate Michael Eldridge put up a rebound for two points, giving the Rattlers an eight-point run in the first minute of the second half.

Greene scored four points with recovered offensive rebounds and the Rattlers hit 7-12 from the free throw line in the third period. In total, Tucumcari shot 72 percent from the foul line making 18-25.

The Rattlers sank 10 three-pointers against the Lions, including a half-court buzzer-beater by Sandoval to end the third period.

“I knew it had a chance of going in when I let it go,” Sandoval said.

The Lions tried to get back into the game with outside shooting from Robert Zamora and Joseph Esquibel, but their missed shots were rebounded by the Rattlers, keeping Santa Rosa from second and third chance shots.

Turnovers plagued the Lions through the second half, some thrown out-of-bounds or lost due to pressure from the Rattlers.

The Lions managed to score 15 points in the final period, but the damage had already been done as the Rattlers’ younger bench players took to the court with three minutes left in the game.

Game time: 4 p.m. Saturday at Clayton