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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Sports

Wednesday, November 18, 1998

Early bombs carry Pecos by Monahans


PECOS, Nov. 18 -- Last year, the Pecos Eagles waited until
the second half of their basketball season opener at
Monahans to bomb the taller Loboes from three-point range
and earn a victory.

Tuesday night, the Eagles began their bombing run early,
outscoring Monahans 16-4 in the first period, then holding
off a second half rally by the Loboes to win by a 42-35
final score.

The Eagles outscored the Loboes from 3-point range 18-3,
and coach Mike Sadler said his reserve posts did a good job
late in the game, after starter Mark Marquez fouled out.

"We got a big lead (23-8 at the half) and just worked on
our delay game," said Eagles' coach Mike Sadler. "We tried
to pack it back in the zone against their big guys and
played keepaway. We only had 10 turnovers, which was good
for the first game, and three of those were questionable."

Oscar Luna, one of several Eagles just out from football,
had three of Pecos' 3-pointers on the night, and led all
scorers with 19 points. Hector Garcia was next for Pecos
with seven, and six of the seven players used by Sadler
scored.

"In the first half we shot 70 percent (from 3-point range),
which is as good as you can get. In the second half, we
started to hold onto the ball and that's when they started
coming back."

Jason Merrick and David Williams led the Loboes with 13 and
eight points, and the Loboes were able to get Marquez out of
the game on fouls in the final period. Pecos was already
without their returning all-district post, senior Fernando
Navarette, due to grades, but Sadler said his reserves did a
good job on defense at the finish.

"I only brought Orlando Matta and Kendrick Evans off the
bench, and that was when Mark got into foul trouble and
fouled out. Orlando and Kendrick had to play up front and I
was really impressed with both of them," Sadler said. Matta
did not score while Evans had a field goal in place of
Marquez, who finished with five points.

"Mark was powerful down low early, He opened up early with
the first four points and drew fouls that got them into foul
trouble," Sadler said.

Tuesday's game was the first of three straight on the road
for Pecos to open the season. They'll go to Presidio on
Friday to face the Blue Devils, then travel to Fort Stockton
next Tuesday before their home opener, on Nov. 28 against
Odessa High.

Monahans won Tuesday's junior varsity and freshman season
openers, by 66-42 and 32-27 final scores.

Eagle girls hammered by Bronchos


By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Nov. 18 -- There's no place to go but up for the
Pecos Eagle girls basketball team after Tuesday night.

The Eagles were beaten by 97 points in their season opener
against Odessa High, falling at home to the Bronchos by a
118-21 score, and with just three
seniors and seven sophomores on his squad, coach Brian
Williams knows the trip towards respectability is going to
take time.

"If patience is a virtue, I'm going to have plenty off it,"
said Williams, after OHS became the first team ever to hit
the 100 point mark in the 15-year-old Pecos High School
gym."I knew we weren't going to have much experience this
year, but the only way to get experience is to play.

"I'm not going to use youth as an excuse. One thing we're
going to try and do is to improve each game. and we're going
to have to maintain our confidence and discipline like we do
in practice."

OHS scored the game's first five points, but only led 9-6
six minutes into the game, when senior Shaye Lara picked up
her second foul. Lara had scored all six of Pecos' points at
the time, off two steals and a side jumper, and when she
came out things fell apart for Pecos.

Led by Lindsey Casey and Chanse Sutherland, the Bronchos
outscored the Eagles 14-2 over the final two minutes of the
period, then scored 36 points in the second quarter, many of
those off lay-ups by Casey, who had 23 of her 35 points in
the first half.

"We started letting them have two and three shots and we
can't do that," Williams said. "One thing I'll look at
Saturday is if we can improve our rebounding," when Pecos
plays at Stanton.

While rebound shots dominated OHS' scoring in the first
half, steals off the full-court press accounted for the bulk
of the Bronchos' second half baskets, with Sutherland
leading the way there.

"One thing that hurt us tonight was we were looking in their
faces and telegraphing everything. They were one step
quicker than us and when we caught the ball, it would take
us time to position it in our hand and it would take us time
to pass the ball," Williams said.

"That's something we can work on as we go along. If we still
look like that when we start district that's when I'll be
real worried."

The Eagles coach mixed his lineups in the first half, then
sent in his first and second teams as units for most of the
final two periods, which includes one group of five
sophomores against the Bronchos, who had to keep at least
two starters in at all times with only eight players on the
team.

Sutherland ended up with 28 points and post Shelby
Fitzgerald put in 24, while Lara's nine led Pecos in scoring.

It wasn't a fun night either for Pecos' freshmen and junior
varsity teams. The JV dropped a 78-15 game to Odessa High
while the ninth graders lost to the Bronchos' sophomores,
84-19. Nichole Payne led the JV with nine points and Laura
Hinojos had six to top the freshmen in scoring.

ODESSA HIGH (118)
Sutherland 12 3-6 28; Gatson 0 1-2 1; Hair 0 0-0 0; Ansley 2
5-7 9; Rivers 3 1-2 7; Casey 15 5-6 35; Hughes 5 5-6 15;
Fitzgerald 9 6-7 24. Totals 46 26-36 118.

PECOS (21)
Barreno 0 0-1 0; Lara 4 1-2 9; Marquez 1 0-1 0; Molinar 1
1-2 3; Quiroz 1 0-0 2; Salcido 0 0-0 0; Arenivas 0 1-2 1;
Levario 0 0-1 0; Hathorn 0 0-2 0; Fobbs 1 1-2 3. Totals 8
4-13 21.

Odessa High 23 36 26 33 --118
Pecos 8 5 2 6 -- 21
Three-point goals: Odessa High, Sutherland, Pecos, Marquez.
Fouled out: Pecos, Fobbs. Total fouls: Odessa High 18,
Pecos 25.

Rangers' Gonzalez favored for MVP


NEW YORK, Nov. 18 (AP) -- By the first week of October, all
those regular season stats didn't mean much to Juan
Gonzalez.

Over a six-month season, he had 157 RBIs, the highest total
in the American League in 49 years. He hit .318 with 45
homers, helping Texas win its second AL West title in three
seasons and putting himself in position to win the AL Most
Valuable Player award for the second time in three years.

But then the New York Yankees wiped out the Rangers in three
straight games in the postseason's first round.

``It was very frustrating,'' said Gonzalez, who went
1-for-12 with no RBIs. ``Their pitching dominated the best
(hitting) team in the AL.''

Some blamed Gonzalez, the Rangers' leader. Not Texas manager
Johnny Oates. He knew his entire team hit just .141
(13-for-92).

``I think the thing about it is they shut down everyone,''
Oates said. ``Really, from top to bottom, I don't think we
need to isolate on any one individual. We never really got
the offense started.''

Gonzalez became the favorite to win the MVP because no one
dominated on the Yankees or Cleveland Indians, and Ken
Griffey Jr.'s Seattle Mariners never contended despite his
56 home runs.

While Boston's Mo Vaughn challenged for the AL batting title
before finishing second to New York's Bernie Williams on the
final day, Gonzalez's season was far more notable throughout
the year.

He had 101 RBIs at the All-Star break, becoming only the
second player to top the century mark going into the
All-Star game (Hank Greenberg had 103 in 1935).

By the final week of July, he had 116 RBIs in 105 games,
bringing up talk he could challenge the record of 190, set
by Hack Wilson in 1930.

``It's not impossible,'' Gonzalez said then. ``I just need
to stay healthy and keep working hard.''

But then he had a hamstring problem, and the chance for a
record disappeared. Once again, he missed out on the
limelight.

``He's a great, great hitter,'' Mark McGwire said. ``But you
know, the sad thing, if somebody said, `Who was the 1996 MVP
in the American League?' I bet you nobody really knows --
Juan Gonzalez. Every year, year in, year out, he just puts
up the numbers. It just seems like he doesn't get the
notoriety he should.''




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Pecos Enterprise
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324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
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e-mail news@pecos.net

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Copyright 1998 by Pecos Enterprise