Peter Dindinger — NMMI Sports Press
When district play rolls around, no team can be taken for granted.
During the first half of their District 4-3A opener against the Tucumcari Rattlers, the New Mexico Military Institute Colt basketball team held an 11-point lead at the break while outrebounding the Rattlers, 15-7.
The tables were flipped in the second half as the Rattlers trailed by two points with 5:29 left in the game.
Despite the late rally by Tucumcari, NMMI managed to pull away with the 65-59 victory Wednesday night at the Godfrey Athletic Center.
The Colt (9-5 overall, 1-0 district) offense had a good night, knocking down five 3-pointers in the first half and having three players score double digits.
“Overall, the guys did well,” NMMI head coach Connor Williamson said. “Obviously, a win is a win, so we’ll take it to start it off … (you got to) protect home.
“Today was a big improvement, more well-rounded scoring for the whole team as opposed to last game. Guys shared the ball well tonight.”
Tucumcari (6-12, 0-1) jumped out to a brief 3-0 lead in the opening quarter, but the game was later deadlocked at 5-5 before NMMI went on a 5-0 run.
The Colts were executing on offense and the score reflected that as they led by 11 points with 1:08 left in the first quarter.
Ricardo Mata led NMMI with 12 points at the half while Daniel Xibille had 10.
Trailing by 17 points with 5:49 left in the third quarter, the Rattlers battled back to trail by five. The deficit was later chiseled down to two late in the quarter.
NMMI committed 18 turnovers in the game compared to 14 for the Rattlers.
Xibille led the Colts with 20 points and 10 rebounds while Mata finished with 17 points and five assists. Hector Soto chipped in with 10 points.
NMMI outrebounded Tucumcari, 33-23.
The Colts shot 26 of 46 from the field and 8 for 16 from the charity stripe.
Tucumcari’s Jesus Ramos led all scorers with 24 points and four steals. The Rattlers knocked down eight 3-pointers.
“We played good the first half and then the second half number 21 (Jesus Ramos) started to light it up,” Mata said. “We kept our defense and offense disciplined. So, we’ll keep working like a team. It’s good to win our first district game.
“We just want to play disciplined. That’s our goal.”
NMMI begins a three-game road trip making a 26-minute trek down to Dexter at 6:30 p.m. Friday. The Colts then have a marquee game at Tularosa on Tuesday followed by another meeting with the Rattlers before returning home.
“We just got to clean up some small mistakes,” Williamson said. “I think we had two or three inbound turnovers. We just got to clean up and play a little more disciplined.
“My mentality — it doesn’t matter where you play. We do the same thing. Dexter and Tularosa are the next two and that’s what we need to get ready for.”