By STAN MOYER

ANTONITO — Closing a game-long Sanford Indian lead to 6 points with 10 seconds left to go was not quite enough for the Antonio Trojans, who lost 55-47 Saturday night to their rival after one of the physically biggest players in the game hit two free throws with only 2.6 seconds left.

Indian senior Brett Forster led all scorers with 16 points, and his steals and rebounds kept Sanford in command from the start, when he made one of two free throws in the first fifteen seconds of the contest to be the first player to score for either side. For the whole game, Sanford took 28 free throws and made 20, while Antonito only made six of nine attempts. In spite of a 31-21 score in favor of the Indians at halftime, and a 40-23 score midway through the third quarter, Antonito did not play as if the team was out of the game at all.

The Sanford defense was probably the biggest factor in the victory. At one point in the third quarter, Forster stole the ball five times in about three minutes on the game clock.

On the other hand, the Trojans were called for 13 fouls in the first half, more than the scoreboard in their gym will show as having occurred. (No fault of the scoreboard keeper, for some reason the foul total sign “maxi’s out” at 10.)

Even if the scoreboard had perhaps an electronic problem, the game itself did not lack electricity at all. With the Antonito fans stomping on the metal stands so hard some spectators could probably not hear themselves think, the Trojans began to close the gap in the last ninety seconds of the third quarter. Lightening-quick senior Jose Uriarte hit a jump shot, followed by a short jumper from senior center Jose Taylor, to close the period at 44-33.

After a foul at the start of the fourth quarter that left Sanford senior Brett Jackson lying on the floor out-of-bounds past the Indian basket, play stayed rough. Jackson hit two free throws. Trojan Taylor scored to keep the gap at 46-35. An Antonito fast break basket and a jump shot by Taylor closed the score to 46-39 with 4:45 left on the game clock.

Sanford missed several shots from the field in the next minute, but kept possession through rebounding and loose-ball recovery and started to attempt to dribble the clock out.

Although in the second half, Sanford had to begun to foul as much as the Trojans, near the contest’s end, Antonito once again started to be called for fouls. That probably happened if for no other reason than to prevent the Indian team from using the shrinking amount of game time available.

Senior Trojan Gabe Martinez hit a three-point field goal with 1:25 left to go to close the gap to 51-42. Sanford game hero Forster fouled Martinez after a Trojan in-bounds pass with just over a minute left to go, and the Trojan hit both free throws to close the score to 51-44.

Uriarte hit a three-point field goal with about ten seconds left in the game, but the Trojan rally was too little, too late, as that left the score 53-47. Uriarte scored 12 in the game, while Martinez had 15. The two end-of-game free throws by Forster made the final 55-47. For the season, Sanford is now 6-3 for the season, and Antonito 7-4.

On Friday, the Antonito boys had beaten Sangre De Cristo 53-27. The Lady Trojans were not as fortunate, losing 52-21. Against Sanford on Saturday, it appeared for a while that the Antonito girls might get their first victory of the season. In the latter part of the second quarter, the team trailed only 22-20.

But the Indian girls took a 28-20 halftime lead, and ran away in the second half, winning the game 52-33.

The highlight of the game for the Lady Trojans was senior Jodi Mora with 20 points, helped by 14 successful free throws out of 18 attempts. The Sanford girls are now 4-5 for the season. Indian sophomore Tori Mortensen had 17 points.