Tigers on the come up

The Taos Tigers boys basketball team pulled out of a third-quarter slump to win 74-66 against the Pojoaque Valley Elks on Friday (Jan. 20). The Tigers’ win at home in their first district match of the season (against the higher-seeded Elks) bumped up Taos’ ranking to 35, setting them on a strong trajectory for the state tournament. For more on this game and other sports news, turn to

Taos survived a third-quarter slump to win 74-66 against the Pojoaque Valley Elks in a thrilling overtime game on Friday (Jan. 20).

In those extra four minutes of basketball, the Tigers were without the services of their two top-scorers and playmakers in Daemon Ely, out with foul trouble, and Isaiah Apodaca, sidelined with an injury late in the fourth quarter. Ely and Apodaca combined for 35 of Taos’ 74 points.

The Taos Tigers held a 30-23 lead to start the second half versus the Pojoaque Valley Elks on Friday.

Coming out after halftime, Taos kept throwing sloppy passes to try and escape from out of the Pojoaque Valley press. The press was eventually broken by an impressive dunk by Daemon Ely off of a Mateo Chavez assist. Still, the Tigers weren’t scoring enough to keep Pojoaque Valley at bay.

Derek Sanchez craftfully got to the free throw line a couple of times through the use of a pump fake that found Taos defenders up in the air committed to the contest too early. Sanchez would wind up with 31 points on the night before fouling out in overtime.

The Tigers fought back in the fourth and had a 59-53 lead after a Chavez layup.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Dalian Lopez and Tobias Velazquez put Pojoaque Valley back in it, and

a pair of Sanchez free throws gave them the 61-59 lead with less than 40 seconds to go in the game.

As the lone big man for Taos, Duke drove hard to the rim and scored the bucket that would send the game into overtime.

For the final possession, Sanchez had the iso that he wanted and drove left from the top of the key but lost the ball, and Lionel Salazar heaved it from half court in case he could beat the buzzer.

In overtime Taos out scored Pojoaque Valley 13-5 with big contributions from Duke, Salazar, Yovani Varela and Noah Washington to close out the Elks in their first district encounter.