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Sadler rotated his players in and out of the starting lineup often
Tuesday night, and kept a full court press on the Crane Golden Cranes
all the way, as the Eagles began the 1996-97 basketball season with a
78-64 homecourt victory over the Cranes.
"I thought they looked good. I was very much impressed," Sadler said, as
the Eagles overcame a slow start to take the lead at the end of the
first period, and held it the rest of the way, opening up as much as an
18-point margin in the final period.
Coming off a 5-21 season a year ago, the Eagles got much more out of
their press and out of their guards Tuesday than last year. Eric Abila
had 13 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, while Hector Garcia added
12 along with several assists in the first half, when the Eagles were
building their lead.
"Hector Garcia was one of the last-minute guys I moved up , and it
obviously was a good decision, because he's going to be a good
playmaker," Sadler said. "Twelve points out of your point guard is good."
The Eagles also got 21 points out of junior post Omar Hinojos, who
survived his collision with a wall in practice Monday to lead all
scorers, while Moses Martinez put in 13, including the lay-up off a
steal as the first period ended that gave Pecos a 16-14 lead.
The Eagles would widen that a couple of times over the next two periods,
only to see Crane rally. A 3-pointer by Abila and a Garcia jumper made
it 31-14 as the second period began, before Crane narrowed the gap to
21-20. Pecos came back with nine straight points before Crane's Curtis
Rodgers got hot at the end, scoring six of his 11 points in the period,
which ended with the Eagles up 35-26.
The lead would grow to 45-31 midway through the third period, off a
Fernando Navarrete lay-up, before Crane posts Scott Reed, Kelly
Blackwood and Corey Gross found the range. The trio cut Pecos' lead to
47-43 before a Garcia lay-up off a Jason Abila assist broke the string.
Two lay-ups by Martinez and a free throw by Hinojos in the final minute
got the margin back up to 10, at 56-46.
After the teams traded baskets at the outset of the fourth quarter, the
Eagles put things away when a lay-up by Hinojos, following by Abila's
other 3-point and a steal and lay-up by the senior, made it 67-50 with
four minutes to play.
Crane did manage to break the Eagles' press several times, especially in
the third period, but Sadler said that was expected.
"It's not going to work all the time, but if you pressure them each time
they bring the ball up, when you get a turnover it may not be because of
what happened that time, but what you did the last time," he said. "If
you press, press, press, eventually, it will pay off."
Reeves had 12 points to lead the Cranes, who were still without a number
of players still on the football team, which hosts Alpine in the Class
3A playoffs this weekend. Sadler wound up using 13 different players in
his head coaching debut for the Eagles, with 10 of the 13 getting on the
scoreboard.
Tuesday's game was the only one this week for the varsity, but the
Eagles' junior varsity will be back in action on Thursday, at the
Midland JV Tournament, after opening with a 61-36 loss to Crane. Roy
Marta had nine points to lead the JV.
CRANE (64)
Carrasco 1 0-0 2; Garcia 0 0-0 0; Rogers 5 0-4 11; Ortega 3 0-1 6; Neal
2 2-2 6; Henderson 2 0-0 4; Davenport 3 2-4 8; Gross 1 1-2 3; Revees 6
0-0 12; Blackwood 4 0-0 8. Totals 27 9-20 64.
PECOS (78)
Flores 0 0-0 0; Montgomery 1 0-0 2; E. Abila 5 1-3 13; J. Abila 1 0-0 2;
Carrasco 2 0-2 4; Luna 1 0-0 2; Martinez 5 3-4 13; Celaya 0 0-0 0;
Hinojos 10 1-4 21; Garcia 6 0-2 12; Adame 0 0-0 0; Marquez 2 1-1 5;
Navarrete 1 2-4 4. Totals 34 8-20 78.
Crane 14 12 20 18 -- 64
Pecos 16 19 21 22 -- 78
Three-point goals: Crane 1 (Rogers), Pecos 2 (E. Abila 2). Fouled out:
Crane, Rogers. Total Fouls: Crane 21, Pecos 20.
PECOS, Nov. 13, 1996 - It didn't take a Jordan-like performance for the
Permian Panthers to get past the Pecos Eagles Tuesday night, though
Jordan was the Panthers' leading scorer in their season-opening victory
over the Eagles.
Playing without half their varsity squad, including most of their post
players, the Eagles were overwhelmed inside by 6-2 junior Katrina
Jordan, who scored 20 points, and 6-1 junior Tosha Christian, who added
12, as Permian jumped out to a 22-0 first period lead on the way to a
79-35 victory over Pecos.
"It was about what I expected," said Patty Hall, who lost in her first
game as Eagles' head coach. Junior Annette Marquez was the only one of
eight players who were part of the Eagles' varsity volleyball team that
made the trip to Odessa.
Junior posts Lori Marquez and Ivy Thorp, along with junior guard Marisol
Arenivas, began practice on Monday, after the Eagles were ousted from
the Class 4A playoffs six days earlier. Hall said senior guard Veronica
Carrasco came out on Tuesday, and she was hoping to add three more
players before Pecos' home opener against Odessa High.
"Hopefully, next Tuesday we'll have our regular lineup," she said.
Pecos had just seven players suited up against Permian, and only two
with varsity experience. One of those, Liz Matta, led the Eagles with 12
points, while Hall said despite the loss, "I saw a lot of good things.
Our sophomore post Michelle Villanueva did a good job, and Penny
(Armstrong) did some good things.
"We were just a lot shorter and slower than Permian was last night," the
Eagles' coach added.
Permian also won Tuesday's junior varsity game, and the Panthers'
sophomores also defeated the Eagles' freshman team. Pecos' varsity and
JV will be off until their game against OHS next week, while the
freshmen will host their own tournament this weekend at the Pecos High
School gym.
PECOS (35)
Lara 0 0-2 0; A. Marquez 4 0-0 9; Armstrong 1 1-1 3; Villanueva 1 0-0 2;
Orona 2 1-2 5; Matta 5 1-2 12; Barrera 1 1-2 3. Totals 14 4-9 35.
ODESSA PERMIAN (79)
Freeman 3 0-1 6; Fry 2 1-2 5; Putnam 2 0-0 4; Holguin 1 0-0 2; McAlister
2 0-0 4; Cisneros 3 0-0 6; Brewer 2 0-0 4; Jordan 9 2-7 20; Lee 3 0-0 7;
Zenger 4 1-2 9; Christian 6 0-0 12. Totals 37 4-12 79.
Pecos 0 5 11 19 -- 35
Odessa Permian 22 17 20 20 -- 79
Three-point goals: Pecos 3 (A. Marquez, Orona, Matta), Permian 1 (Lee).
Fouled out: None.
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