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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Top Stories

Wednesday, December 30, 1998

Eagles' shots remain on holiday

By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Dec. 30 -- Play resumed for the Pecos Eagles
basketball team on Tuesday afternoon, but their shots
remained on Christmas break in a 40-39 overtime loss to the
Presidio Blue Devils at the Pecos High School gym.

The Eagles managed just two baskets in the final 15½ minutes
of play, and missed a series of lay-ups at the end of
regulation and overtime, allowing Eyid Urias' basket with 58
seconds to play to provide the Blue Devils with their margin
of victory.

"We missed 12 lay-ups," said coach Mike Sadler. "I don't
care if you're playing Bessie Haynes, if you miss 12 lay-ups
you're not beating anybody.

"If we can't make our lay-ups when district starts, we're in
for a long, long road," he added.

Pecos' problems started when Fernando Navarette, the only
Eagle who was making his lay-ups over the first 18 minutes
of the game, went cold midway through the third period.
Navarette, who had 18 points by then, managed just one more
lay-up, midway through the third period, and missed on
reverses at both the end of regulation and in overtime.

Mark Marquez kept the Eagles in the game by going 6-for-6
from the foul line in the fourth period and in overtime. His
two free throws with 1:31 to play tied the game at 34-all,
and neither team managed to score again until overtime, and
his two foul shots there at the 2:32 mark gave the Eagles
their last lead, at 39-38.

"Our biggest problem is inconsistency on lay-ups. We don't
practice lay-ups hard enough, and we don't take it
seriously," Sadler said. "The way we practice is indicative
of the way we play, and that's my fault. I've got to get
them to work harder in practice on making lay-ups."

Pecos not only struggled inside to hit their shots, they
also could never find the target consistently from 3-point
range. Navarette hit one from outside in the first half and
Hector Garcia connected for his only points of the night
from behind the 3-point line in overtime, giving the Eagles
a 37-36 lead.

Presidio had their own troubles inside -- Urias blew a
chance to win the game in regulation -- but Rene Aguirre
scored 12 of his 16 points from 3-point range, and Helio
Franco added another two jumpers from outside as part of his
eight points on the day.

Aguirre and Manuel Neri gave Presidio an early 7-4 lead, but
a three-point play by Navarette allowed Pecos to tie the
score at 9-9 as the first period ended. He would score nine
of Pecos' 13 points in the second period, which ended with
the Eagles ahead by a 22-17 score.

Another lay-up by Navarette gave the Eagles their biggest
lead, at 24-17, but Aguirre would hit twice from 3-point
range and Franco added a lay-up to cut the lead to 28-27 as
the quarter ended. Another 3 by Aguirre and an ensuing
lay-up gave the Blue Devils a 32-28 advantage before the
Eagles came back to tie, on two foul shots by Marquez, who
finished with 10 points, and Navarette's final lay-up of the
game.

The loss dropped Pecos to 7-9 on the season while Presidio
improved to 10-2. The Eagles still have three more games on
their schedule before District 2-4A play opens, beginning on
Saturday night, when they host Sonora at 7:30 p.m. The
Eagles beat the Broncos in Sonora on Dec. 21 by a 44-40
score.

Pecos did win Tuesday's junior varsity game by a 42-39 final
score. Cesar Coria had 10 points to lead the Eagles.

PRESIDIO (40)
Franco 3 0-0 8; Alarcon 0 0-0 0; Mendoza 0 0-0 0; Aguirre 6
0-0 16; Urias 3 0-0 6; Tavarez 0 0-0 0; Neri 4 2-2 10.
Totals 16 2-3 40.

PECOS (39)
Weidner 0 0-0 0; Perea 1 0-0 2; Luna 2 0-2 4; A. Garcia 0
0-0 0; Navarette 9 1-2 20; H. Garcia 1 0-0 3; Matta 0 0-0 0;
Marquez 2 6-7 10; Orona 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 7-11 39.

Presidio 9 8 10 7 6 --40
Pecos 9 13 6 6 5 --39
Three-point goals: Presidio 6 (Aguirre 4, Franco 2), Pecos 2
(Navarette, H. Garcia). Fouled out: Pecos, Marquez. Total
fouls: Pecos 14, Presidio 12.

Pecos girls fall to Owls again

PECOS, Dec. 30 -- The Pecos Eagle girls didn't get a win,
but they did get a little bit closer to the Reagan County
Owls in their third meeting of the season, on Tuesday at the
Owls' Mary Tatum Invitational Basketball Tournament.

The Eagles, who had lost by 76-24 and 71-30 scores to Reagan
County before Christmas, were beaten by the Owls on Tuesday
in the consolation quarterfinals of the tournament by a
54-35 final score. Katrina Quiroz' nine points were high for
Pecos, which is now 3-12 on the season.

The loss also dropped Pecos into this morning's 11th place
game against the Crane Golden Cranes, who, like Reagan
County, also came into the game with a previous win over the
Eagles, by a 54-41 score in Dec. 1 in Pecos.

Today's game is Pecos' last road game before the start of
District 2-4A play on Dec. 9 at El Paso Mountain View.

Boilermakers' 80-yard drive beats K-State

By KELLEY SHANNON
AP Sports Writer
SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 30 -- No. 4 Kansas State insisted it was
over the snub it got from the major bowl games.

The Wildcats' performance in the Alamo Bowl suggested
otherwise.

Kansas State, facing unranked Purdue after being spurned by
the top-tier bowls, was lackluster the first three quarters
Tuesday night, then couldn't beat the Boilermakers, even
with a late rally.

``I still think everyone was trying to forget, but it was
not much different than it was 24 days ago,'' said Kansas
State coach Bill Snyder, recalling bowl selection weekend.
``I still think we were suffering.''

Purdue drove 80 yards for a touchdown in the final minute to
shock Kansas State 37-34 and win its second consecutive
Alamo Bowl title.

After losing a 14-point lead in the final quarter and
letting the Wildcats jump ahead 34-30, the Boilermakers used
just 54 seconds for the game-winning drive, capped by Drew
Brees' 24-yard pass to Isaac Jones with 30 seconds left.

``Without a doubt, I knew we could win at the end,'' Jones
said. ``I am so grateful to have the chance to play in this
game.''

From the moment they landed in the Alamo Bowl, the Wildcats
(11-2) complained that they weren't in a bigger bowl. Kansas
State lost a chance to play for the national championship in
the Fiesta Bowl after a 36-33 double-overtime loss to Texas
A&M in the Big 12 title game.

Then the Wildcats weren't invited to the Sugar or Orange
Bowls, and the Holiday and Cotton Bowls, which are
affiliated with the Big 12, picked Nebraska and Texas.

For the first three quarters of the Alamo Bowl, the Wildcats
looked like a team still reeling from the snub.

``Tonight was the culmination of three weeks of
disappointment,'' Snyder said. ``I could have been a better
leader for them. It was my responsibility to get them
ready.''

Their 21 points in the fourth quarter was the only thing
that kept Kansas State from being blown out.

Quarterback Michael Bishop lost a fumble and threw four
interceptions, but also threw an Alamo Bowl-record 88-yard
touchdown pass to Darnell McDonald with 6:23 remaining. With
1:24 left, Bishop tossed a 2-yard touchdown pass to Justin
Swift for a 34-30 lead, completing a comeback that brought
30,000 purple-clad fans to their feet.

``I'm not embarrassed at all. We got beat by a good team. We
have no reason to hang our heads,'' said Bishop, the Heisman
Trophy runner-up.

Purdue coach Joe Tiller said this victory rivaled last
year's defeat of Notre Dame.

``This is a great win for all Purdue people,'' Tiller said.
``The defense played great and the special teams had its
moments.''

Purdue scored 17 points off Kansas State fumbles, and Kansas
State stayed in touch only because it scored its first two
touchdowns after recovering bad snaps on Purdue punt
attempts. The Wildcats got the ball on the 1 after the first
and recovered the second in the end zone.

The offense didn't produce a touchdown until three minutes
into the fourth quarter on David Allen's 3-yard run that got
Kansas State back into the game at 27-20.

A 37-yard field goal by Purdue's Travis Dorsch put the
Boilermakers ahead 30-20 with 6:44 left.

Kansas State answered on the next play with Bishop's pass to
McDonald, who overcame pass interference to grab the ball
and score untouched to pull the Wildcats to 30-27 with 6:23
to play.

Purdue dominated Kansas State in the first half like no team
had this season. The Boilermakers made the most of Kansas
State's two fumbles in the second quarter and led 17-7 at
halftime.

``I may have pressed too hard to make things happen,''
Bishop said. ``The first half was my worst since I came to
Kansas State.''

Kansas State, failing to score in the first quarter for the
first time this season, got a touchdown with 9:49 remaining
in the second after a bad snap eluded Purdue punter Andy
Standifer, giving Kansas State possession at the 1. K-State
scored on a 1-yard pass from Bishop to McDonald.

Brees was 25-of-53 for 230 yards and three touchdowns with
three interceptions,

``I'm thinking right now, how did we win that game?'' Brees
said. ``In the first half, we as an offense didn't seem to
execute well. Our defense got turnovers for us all night.
... All I can say is that offense wins games and defense
truly wins championships.''

Bishop, who transferred to Kansas State two years ago from
Blinn (Texas) Junior College, was only 9-of-24 for 182 yards
with three touchdowns and four interceptions, matching his
interception total for the entire season.

``I don't want to use the Texas A&M game as an excuse for
losing,'' Bishop said. ``This loss does not take anything
away from our successes this season.''



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