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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Monday, January 12, 2004
Eagles grab early lead, hold on to beat Cranes
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The Pecos Eagles had the formula for beating the Crane Golden Cranes
Friday night, they just didn't have the ability to use it all that
often.
Playing their final home game before the start of the District 4-3A
boys basketball season, the Eagles used a full-court press to create a
series of turnovers in the opening period and go out to a 14-7 lead,
then used the press again in the second period, to widen that margin to
as much as 15 points midway through the quarter.
But with only eight players on the squad, coach Joe Flores could
only use the press for a limited amount of time before the Eagles began
to tire out and the Cranes began to come back. Shane McManus led a
second-half rally that cut Pecos' margin to as little as two points
midway through the final period, but the Eagles were able to generate
just enough offense - and hit just enough free throws - to escape with
a 56-52 win, snapping a four-game losing streak.
"The kids love to press, but we don't have enough artillery," said
Flores. "Tonight I kind of decided to test how many artillery shells
were in our pocket, and it worked for most of the game, except for the
late third quarter when we started getting tired, and our jump shots
started getting short and out of control."
Oscar Parada and Victor Reyes each had 16 points to lead Pecos.
Reyes got most of his points and a couple of steals, during the Eagles'
two runs in the first half off the full-court press, but also hit a
jumper late midway through the fourth quarter, after David Heredia's
3-pointer cut Pecos' lead to 46-44.
Parada followed with a basket and two foul shots to get Pecos' lead
back up to six, while Reyes sealed the victory by hitting two free
throws off an intentional foul by Crane's Denton Dodd with 3.8 seconds
to play. Reyes was hit with a technical for taunting after being thrown
to the floor by Dodd, and while McManus hit two free throws after
Reyes' two and Crane got the ball, the Eagles remained up by four.
"Tick (Reyes) is improving every game and that's a good thing for
us," said Flores. "When your point guard can be improving every game
that helps, especially going into district. He's been really working
hard penetrating and in his decision making, and it's been paying off."
Heredia and Jose Reyes traded 3-pointers in the early going, with
Reyes' shot wiping out Crane's only lead of the night, at 3-2. Victor
Reyes would have two lane jumpers and a 3-pointer and Parada added a
basket off a steal as part of a 12-2 run that put the Eagles ahead by
nine late in the opening period.
Crane would cut that margin back to three early in the second
quarter before Pecos went back to the press and went on a 14-2 run,
which gave them a 30-15 lead. Ricardo Morales had two lay-ups off
steals and Victor Reyes also had a lay-up after a Crane turnover, while
Parada capped the run with a 3-point shot.
The Cranes cut six points off that lead before the half was over,
and while Victor Reyes opened the third period with a basket, McManus
would score 10 points in the period, which ended with the Eagles ahead
by only a 38-35 score.
Pecos would make one more run early in the fourth period, scoring
six straight points to open the quarter. But the Eagles could have
gotten more except for a poor night of foul shooting. Pecos was only
12-for-28 from the line, while Crane shot 91 percent from the line on
Friday, going 10-for-11.
McManus led all scorers with 18 points, while Jose Reyes also was in
double figures for the Eagles with 11. The win improved Pecos to 7-11
on the season going into their final pre-district game, on Tuesday
night at Jal, N.M. District play starts for the Eagles at home on
Friday against Greenwood, currently ranked No. 3 in the state Class 3A
poll.
Crane did pull out a four-point win in Friday's junior varsity game,
60-56.
CRANE (52)
Galindo 1 0-0 2; McManus 7 4-4 18; Dodd 0 2-2 2; Heredia 2 0-0 6;
Henderson 0 0-0 0; Eylar 2 0-0 4; Snow 2 0-0 4; Browning 3 2-2 8;
Seabourne 3 2-3 8. Totals 20 10-11 52.
PECOS (56)
Parada 6 3-5 16; Morales 3 0-3 6; Pina 0 1-2 1; J. Reyes 3 3-6 11;
Licon 0 0-0 0; Lara 2 2-8 6; V. Reyes 6 3-4 16. Totals 20 12-28 56.
Crane 7 14 14 17 52
Pecos 14 16 8 18 56
Three-point goals: Crane 2 (Heredia 2), Pecos 4 (J. Reyes 2, V.
Reyes, Parada). Technical foul: Pecos, V. Reyes. Fouled out: Crane
Dodd. Total fouls: Crane 23, Pecos 11.
Monahans roughs up Pecos in girls' district opener
The first four minutes of Friday night's District 4-3A opener for
the Pecos Eagles went the way coach Veronica Valenzuela had hoped. But
after that, there wasn't too much for Valenzuela to be happy about.
A lay-up by Chantel Mazone and a jumper by Leslie Rodriguez gave
Pecos a quick 4-0 lead over the Monahans Loboes, and after another
Rodriguez basket the Eagles still had a 6-3 lead midway through the
opening quarter. But from there on, Pecos had problems handling
Monahans press or getting any rebounds and were outscored 13-2 the rest
of the period, on the way to a 67-33 loss to the Loboes at the Pecos
High School gym.
"I told them before the game if we didn't panic we'd be OK,"
Valenzuela said. "We worked on the press break for about an hour,
because I knew they were going to press us full-court and half-court,
just like they did last year, but we weren't ready mentally. We weren't
focused before the game, and until we start doing that, nothing is
going to work."
Several times the Eagle guards attempted to throw long passes to
teammates guarded by taller Monahans players, only to have them
intercepted. At the same time, Monahans' senior post Laura Crumrine
began both getting open inside and getting rebounds for second-chance
baskets after the opening minutes of play.
Crumrine survived a poor-shooting first half from the foul line to
finish with 21 points, while Amber Sotelo got open for a couple of
3-point baskets late in the opening quarter to help Monahans go from a
6-3 deficit to a 16-8 lead. She would hit another 3 early in the second
period, as part of her 15 points on the night, as Monahans widened
their margin to 14 points, at 25-11, and kept it in that area through
the rest of the half.
The Loboes would score the first eight points of the second half,
four coming directly off steals, and after two baskets by Rodriguez
would go on a 13-0 run, widening their lead to 50-19 just before the
end of the period. Crumrine's final points of the night, a lay-up and
foul shot on a three-point play, gave Monahans its biggest lead, at
56-20 33 seconds into the final period, before the teams traded points
the rest of the way.
Rodriguez had 13 points to lead Pecos, which fell to 3-13 on the
season. Monahans improved to 11-7 with their victory. The Eagles will
be on the road Tuesday for a game at Fort Stockton against the
Prowlers, who defeated Presidio in their District 4-3A opener on
Friday.
MONAHANS (67)
Garcia 1 0-0 2; Cypher 4 0-0 8; Merrick 1 0-0 2; Beauchamp 0 1-4 1;
Williams 0 0-3 0; Speed 1 0-0 2; Wright 0 0-0 0; Fann 4 2-4 10; Sotelo
5 2-3 15; Crumrine 7 7-14 21; Walker 2 0-0 4; Cutbreath 0 0-0 0. Totals
25 12-28 67.
PECOS (33)
Rodriguez 6 1-4 13; Carrasco 1 3-4 5; D. Garcia 0 3-4 3; M. Mendoza
0 0-2 0; Valdez 0 0-0 0; O. Mendoza 0 0-0 0; V. Garcia 0 1-2 1;
Armendariz 2 2-4 6; Mazone 2 0-0 4. Totals 11 11-20 33.
Monahans 16 13 1 21 17 67
Pecos 8 7 5 13 33
Three-point goals: Monahans 3 (Sotelo 3. Fouled out: Pecos, Mazone,
D. Garcia. Total fouls: Monahans 18, Pecos 21.
Boys place second, girls fifth at Lubbock meet
Swimming against larger schools from both Texas and New Mexico, the
Pecos Eagles weren't able to add on to their meet win streak on
Saturday at the Lubbock Invitational. But both the boys and girls
squads still placed in the Top 5 in their final meet before District
4-4A competition.
The boys placed second to Lubbock High, finishing with 320 points to
362 for the Westerners. The girls, who were shorthanded for the meet,
still managed to come in fifth with 150 points, behind Fort Bend (Sugar
Land) Elkins, Lubbock High, Lubbock Coronado and Carlsbad.
"I was really impressed with the guys being able to pull it out on
Saturday and come up and improve on their results from Friday to get
the points to beat Sugar Land Elkins," said Eagles' coach Terri Morse,
whose boys and girls teams had swept their last four meets before the
Christmas holiday. Elkins placed third in the boys' division with 296
points.
Pecos had a pair of firsts on the day, by sophomore Matt Elliott in
the 100-yard butterfly and senior Max Key in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Elliott had a 58.26 time to take first in his race, while Key swam a
1:03.82 time to beat out teammate K.W. Winkles by just under two
seconds.
"I was excited about Max and K.W.'s times in the backstroke, and
Will (Oglesby) had a good swim in the backstroke and did OK in the 500,
but we haven't been working on that yet," Morse said. "Matt's time in
the fly I was definitely excited about. Winning it was nice, but what
impressed me is he had never gone that fast before."
Oglesby had two of the Eagles five other second place finishes at
the meet, with two more coming from the relay teams. Oglesby, Winkles,
Elliott and Key finished second to Lubbock High in the 200 medley relay
while Key, Winkles, Daniel Quintana and Kyle Winkles were edged by
Elkins for first in the 400 freestyle and edged San Angelo Central for
second place, finishing with a 3:31.73 time.
The other second place effort was by Michael Juarez in the 3-meter
diving competition, the first time he's competed in that event this
year. Juarez later placed fifth in the 1-meter diving. "He did a good
job on both, he just didn't do as well in the 1-meter as he can do. He
was just a little flat on Saturday," Morse said.
Key placed third in his other event, the 50-yard freestyle, while
Elliott was 11th in the 200-yard freestyle. Quintana finished eighth in
that race, and was 11th in the 100 freestyle, and K.W. Winkles took
fourth in the 200 individual medley. Kyle Winkles had Pecos' other
medal, taking third in the 100-yard backstroke.
He was also ninth in the 100 freestyle, while the others who
qualified for Saturday's finals included Matt Oglesby, who was seventh
in the 200 medley and 12th in the 100 fly, the 200-yard freestyle relay
team of Quintana, Elliott, Juarez and Will Oglesby, which placed
eighth, and the 'B' 200 medley relay of Kyle Winkles, Alonzo Garcia,
Matt Oglesby and Juarez, which placed 11th.
The girls swam without Susan Moore and Amanda Contreras and as a
result, didn't place as high as in previous meets in their relay
events. The 200-yard freestyle team of Betsy Lujan, Ashley Horsburgh,
Amie Reynolds and Catherine Minjarez placed sixth, as did the 400
freestyle team of Lujan, Horsburgh, Minjarez and Teddie Salcido. In the
200 medley relay, Salcido, Reynolds, Lindsey Shaw and Jessica Minjarez
finished 14th, while the only 'B' relay of the meet for Pecos, in the
400 free, finished 20th on Friday and did not qualify for Saturday's
finals or consolation event.
"The medley relay was the one I sacrificed. I was hoping we could do
a little better; I was hoping Lindsey could do close to what Catherine
does in the fly, but I thought the 200 and 400 (freestyle) relays did
well," Morse said.
The best overall finish for the girls came from Salcido, who placed
fourth in the 500-yard freestyle, and Catherine Minjarez, fourth in the
100-yard butterfly. Salcido also took sixth place in the 200 free,
while Minjarez was ninth in the 200 individual medley.
Others to qualify in the Top 16 to swim on Saturday included Shaw,
11th in the 100 yard breaststroke and 15th in the 200 individual
medley; Jessica Minjarez, seventh in the 500 freestyle and 13th in the
200 free; Horsburgh, 13th in the 100 free; Ashley Mendoza, 14th in the
500 free; and Reynolds, who placed 12th in the 100 yard breaststroke.
The Eagles will be off this week, before going to Fort Stockton for
District 4-4A competition on Jan. 23-24. Regional competition will be
back at the Pete Ragus Aquatic Center in Lubbock two weeks later.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 432-445-5475, FAX 432-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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Copyright 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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