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February 14, 1997

Badgers' late streak stops Bears


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By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
IMPERIAL, Feb. 14 -- For the better part of 2½ quarters the Balmorhea
Bears tried to catch up with the McCamey Badgers. But when they did
finally catch and pass McCamey midway through the final period, the
Badgers used some outside shooting and some inside rebounding to pull
out the victory in a playoff practice game for both teams Thursday night.

Alex Aranda hit two of his five 3-point shots on the night in the final
three minutes, while Kelsey Folger got inside for a pair of lay-ups --
the second coming on a third opportunity underneath. The 10-0 run
allowed McCamey to withstand one last Balmorhea rally and post a 66-62
victory at Buena Vista High School.

"We got impatient and blew opportunities," said Bears' coach Michael
Barrandey, whose team lost for only the third time in 19 games. "We'd
get close and get impatient and turn it over."

"I'm not taking anything away from McCamey, but I felt we didn't play
very well tonight, and the kids felt that way too," he added.

Being the larger school, McCamey had a manpower advantage, as they
rotated two units in and out of the game all night. And it seemed to
help at the beginning of the second quarter, when the Badgers starters
returned after a rest and scored 12 of the first 14 points in the
period, turning a 17-16 Bears' lead into a 28-19 Badgers advantage.

Zane Rhyne had the Bears' first six points, and Debe Mendoza would hit
a 3-pointers to give Balmorhea a 9-6 lead. But the Bears wouldn't
connect from 3-point range again until Arturo Miranda hit with 40
seconds to play, cutting the lead to 64-60.

In-between, McCamey would hit nine from 3-point range, led by Aranda,
who finished with 17. He, Chris McMahan, who had 12, and Isaiah
Navarrette each had a 3 during the Badgers' second period run, though
lay-ups by Scott Clark and Manny Mendoza in the closing minutes helped
the Bears cut the margin to 32-27 at halftime.

Some bad passes late in the third period by the Bears allowed McCamey
to up their lead to 49-41 entering the final period, and it was 51-43
when Balmorhea got its fast-break going. Clark and Debe Mendoza scored
off lay-ups, and then Miranda, Manny Mendoza and Clark hit six straight
free throws, and the Bears had their first lead since the start of the
second period.

A three-point play by Michael Villanue put the Badgers back up by one,
then Debe Mendoza's 10-foot jumper gave the Bears what turned out to be
their final lead, at 55-54. The Bears missed on their next three trips
downcourt, breaking the string off a rebound basket by Kevin Castillo at
the 1:24 mark.

"They hit their 3s, and we hit a few but normally we have more,"
Barrandey said. "We shot under 30 percent from outside tonight, and for
the season we averaged about 40 to 50 percent."

Barrandey said Castillo, his team's leading outside shooter, was "not
feeling too well," which hurt the Bears' chances from 3-point range.

"He been sick, and his elbow has been hurting, so that hurt us
tonight," he said.

Castillo did score off another missed shot with 30 seconds to play,
after Clark stole a midcourt pass off Miranda's 3-pointer. The lay-up
cut the lead to 64-62, but after running 15 seconds off the clock and
calling a time-out, McCamey was able to use a pick play off the inbounds
to free up Aranda for a lay-up, which sealed the victory.

Clark had 14 points to lead the Bears, while Miranda added 13 and Rhyne
11 for Balmorhea, which will have another playoff practice game on
Monday in Van Horn against District 32-A runner-up Dell City, at 6:30
p.m. McCamey, the District 6-2A runner-up, improved to 22-8 and will
face Shallowater in the bi-district round next week, while the Bears
will go to McCamey for their bi-district game, against Garden City at 7
p.m. Thursday.

McCAMEY (66)
Aranda 6 0-0 17; Villanue 5 2-3 13; A. Navarrette 0 0-0 0; Carrasco 1
0-0 2; Valdez 1 0-0 2; McMahan 5 0-0 12; Gomez 0 0-0 0; Folger 5 0-1 10;
Bustos 1 0-0 2; DeLeon 0 0-0 0; I. Navarrette 2 0-0 7. Totals 27 3-6 66.

BALMORHEA (62)
Miranda 4 4-5 13; M. Mendoza 3 1-1 7; Clark 6 2-3 14; Sanchez 0 0-0 0;
D. Mendoza 4 0-1 9; Castillo 4 0-0 8; Roman 0 0-0 0; Rhyne 5 1-2 11.
Totals 26 8-12 62.

McCamey 16 16 17 17 --66
Balmorhea 17 10 14 21 --62

Three-point goals: McCamey 9 (Arnada 5, McMahon 2, Villanue, I.
Navarrette), Balmorhea 2 (D. Mendoza, Miranda). Technical foul: McCamey,
Villanue. Fouled out: None. Total fouls: McCamey 14, Balmorhea 9.

Eagle squads to scrimmage Bulldogs


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PECOS, Feb. 14 -- Pecos Eagles' baseball coach Bubba Williams will get
his first look at his full varsity squad, in the team's final preseason
scrimmage on Saturday.

The Eagles will host the Midland High Bulldogs starting at 1 p.m. at the
Pecos High School baseball field, while the Eagles' junior varsity and
freshman teams will go to Midland to face the Bulldogs' JV and sophomore
squads, also at 1 p.m.

Williams said he'd have about 17 or 18 players staying in town for the
varsity scrimmage. "I'm still looking at some others who might be up
there, but I don't want to bring them up there and then have them not
play."

For the ones who are there, he said, "We're going to put the kids in
several different positions. In case something happens, I want to see
what they look like."

He also plans to take a look at several pitchers, before opening the
1997 season in Monahans on Tuesday. "I don't know whose going to start,
but I've got Jason Abila, Moses Martinez, Jason Chabarria, Ruben Campos,
Eric Muniz and Bird (Jason Aguilar). All of them may throw some."

Abila and Martinez just got out from basketball, while Aguilar will try
to improve on his control problems from Pecos' scrimmage win over Kermit
on Feb. 3. All three return from last year's varsity, while Campos also
pitched some in pre-district play.

This is the first time in several years the Eagles have faced the
Bulldogs, and they'll meet again in an actual game at Midland next
month. "Midland's supposed to compete for a playoff spot, and there
supposed to have one good pitcher I know of," Williams said.
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State and Regional Sports Pages--San Angelo Standard-Times


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