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"When we go over there I hope he's there, because that's what's going
to make up better, playing against the best guys," Sadler said at the
time.
Friday night, Upton was in the Rangers' lineup, and lived up to his
billing. He scored a game-high 26 points, while Neil Boecking, who put
in 29 in Pecos' earlier 56-49 victory, added 20 this time around.
And this time, the Eagles were the team shorthanded, as the result of a
season-ending injury to senior Arnulfo Flores before the opening tip-off.
Flores suffered a severely broken leg, when it locked on him during
pre-game warmups.
"He totally tore the kneecap from his shin," Sadler said.
Flores, who injured his knee during the 1995 football season and missed
the last four weeks of basketball last year with a broken foot, was
taken to Midland Memorial Hospital, where two pins were placed in his
leg late Friday night.
"He's at home, but he's kind of uncomfortable right now," Sadler said
today.
"We've dedicated the rest of the season to Nufie," the Eagles' coach
said Saturday, and against the Rangers, Pecos used a 20-point effort by
Omar Hinojos, and double-digit scoring from four other players, to get
their second win of the season over Greenwood, though it took an
overtime period for Pecos to come out on top by a 74-71 final score.
"They played the best game I've ever been assoicated with in playing a
four-quarter game with the type of basketball I've been trying to
install," said Sadler, as Eric Abila scored seven of Pecos' 11 points in
the overtime period and Jason Abila added two other baskets after Upton
had rallied the Rangers from a 63-59 deficit late in the game.
Sadler said he got excited enough near the end of regulation to lose
track of the score, and had to be reminded by Hinojos the Eagles didn't
have to foul after a missed free throw by Boecking. Fabien Adame wound
up stealing the ball and setting up a fast break as time wound down, but
the Rangers were able to block a lay-up try by Moses Martinez, forcing
the extra session.
The Rangers had taken a 19-14 lead after one period and maintained a
five-point margin at halftime, before being outscored by Pecos 19-12 in
the third period.
"I like being four or five points down at haltime. The kids stay
focused that way, which they don't sometimes when they have a big lead,"
Sadler said.
Both Adame and Eric Abila finished with 15 points, while Jason Abila
put in 12 and Fernando Navarette 10 for Pecos. It was the third straight
game the Eagles have put four or more players in double figures, and
evened their season record at 7-7. Greenwood also is at the .500 mark,
at 10-10, after the loss.
The seven wins is two more than Pecos managed all of last season, when
they went 0-10 in District 4-4A play. They'll try and end that streak
starting Tuesday, when they face the team that hasn't lost a district
game in two years, Andrews, when 4-4A play begins with a 7:30 p.m. game
at the Pecos High School gym.
Greenwood did win Friday's junior varsity game, by a 78-31 final score.
PECOS (74)
E. Abila 4 5-8 15; J. Abila 5 2-4 12; Rodriguez 0 0-0 0; Martinez 0 0-1
0; Hinojos 6 7-7 20; Garcia 0 0-0 0; Adame 6 3-6 15; Marquez 0 0-0 0;
Navarrete 4 2-2 10; Chavez 1 0-0 2. Totals 26 19-28 74.
GREENWOOD (71)
Wootan 3 0-0 6; Montes 0 0-0 0; Hunnicutt 2 3-3 7; Settled 1 0-0 2;
Boecking 9 2-4 20; Reed 1 0-0 2; Curry 4 0-1 8; Upton 10-6-7 26; Macias
0 0-0 0. Totals 30 11-15 71.
Pecos 14 15 19 15 11 - 74
Greenwood 19 15 12 17 8 - 71
Three-point goals: Pecos 3 (E. Abila 2, Hinojos). Fouled out: Adame,
Hunnicutt. Total fouls: Pecos 18, Greenwood 24.
Sweetwater outscored Pecos in the middle quarters by a 32-10 margin,
turning a 16-12 lead into a 48-22 advantage, on the way to a 63-38
victory in the District 4-4A road opener for the Eagles.
"Lori got three fouls right away, then when I put her back in she got
her fourth, and that really hurt us," Eagles' coach Patty Hall said.
"Plus we didn't get the ball to Penny (Armstrong) as much as we needed
to.
"She took some shots, but he never could get into a solid rhythm," Hall
said of the junior forward, who had 21 points in Pecos' victory on
Thursday over Fort Stockton. Armstrong had five Saturday, while Marquez
still led the Eagles in scoring with 11, despite her foul problems.
Pecos did get some points off turnovers in the early going, but Hall
said the Mustangs out-muscled the Eagles overall. "They're the most
physical team we've played this year, and we had a hard time adjusting
to that," Hall said.
"We're going to have to go back and work on being real physical, because
I talked with Big Spring, and they said Andrews and Lake View are also
that way, so we're going to have to get tougher in order to compete,"
she added. The Eagles host Andrews and Lake View on Tuesday and Friday.
Vanessa Lehermann led the Mustangs with 21 points, while freshman post
Lucreshia Washington put in 16. Both teams are now 1-1 in district,
Sweetwater is 13-9 and Pecos 6-9 on the season, and faces 2-0 Big Spring
on Tuesday.
PECOS (38)
Carrasco 3 2-2 8; A. Marquez 4 2-2 10; Armstrong 2 1-1 5; L. Marquez 5
1-1 11; Orona 0 0-0 0; Barrera 0 0-0 0; Thorp 2 0-2 4. Totals 16 6-8 38.
SWEETWATER (63)
Bender 0 1-1 1; Lehrmann 9 5-7 23; Rannefeld 0 2-2 2; Lepard 5 1-3 13;
Swindle 1 0-0 2; Clemens 1 0-0 3; Haynes 1 0-0 3; Washington 7 2-2 16;
Creswell 0 2-4 2. Totals 24 13-19 63.
Pecos 12 2 8 16 - 38
Sweetwater 16 13 19 15 - 63
Three-point goals: Sweetwater 4 (Lepard 2, Clemens, Haynes). Fouled out:
None. Total fouls: Pecos 14, Sweetwater 8.
PECOS, Jan. 6 -- The new year brought some forced adjustments to the
Balmorhea Bears' boys basketball lineup. And after some strategic
adjustments at halftime the Bears were able to pull away in the game
Friday night against the Fort Hancock Mustangs.
Balmorhea went on a 20-5 run in the third period, turning a one point
halftime lead into a 47-31 advantage, and won for the eighth time in 10
games this season, 60-46.
Scott Clark had 11 of his game-high 21 points in the third quarter,
while post Zane Rhyne had five assists in the period, most coming off
some of his season-high 23 rebounds.
But it was a change on defense that turned things around, Bears' coach
Michael Barrandey said.
"We went to a match-up zone and that kind of frustrated them. They
couldn't run their offense anymore," he said, explaining the change from
a 3-2 zone to a 2-3 in the second half.
The change also got wing Kevin Castillo more involved on defense. He
finished with seven blocks, mostly in the second half, along with
scoring 19 points, most of those in the first two periods.
Clark, Rhyne and Castillo were the three regulars in the lineup for
Balmorhea. Barradney said grades cost him four players, while Debiasie
Mendoza is gone for the season, after a second medical exam found the
junior had suffered torn knee ligaments during the football season. An
earlier exam had indicated only strained knee ligaments.
"I don't even know how he was playing football," Barrandey said, while
adding that freshmen Manny Mendoza and Matthew Sanchez "were doing a
good job," in the starting lineup.
Mendoza, playing at point guard, was able to get through Fort Hancock's
press most of the night, and finished with six points, while Sanchez had
four points, hitting a 3-pointer early on, when the Bears jumped ahead
12-4.
Led by Danny Baeza and Marcos Gonzales, the Mustangs came back, cutting
the lead to 12-11 early in the second period. The Bears got the margin
back up to 20-15 when Clark picked up his second and third fouls in a
nine second span midway through the period.
Balmorhea then struggled for the next few minutes, as a steal and
basket by David Gutierrez ignited an 8-0 run by Fort Hancock that gave
them a 23-20 lead. The Bears wouldn't go back in front until the final
second of the half, when Castillo scored off a pass from Mendoza for a
27-26 lead.
Gonzales, who finished with 14 points, was able to keep Fort Hancock
close early in the third period, hitting a short jumper and then a
3-pointer after the Bears had gone ahead 35-28. But those were the only
points of the period for the Mustangs.
Baeza picked up his third foul and Clark hit a foul shot the next time
downcourt, Castillo then connected on a 3-pointer and Rhyne found Clark
twice for fast break lay-ups, giving the Bears a double digit lead.
Clark and Castillo closed out the period with short jumpers, and the
Bears would widen the lead to as much as 17 points in the final period,
before Fort Hancock got within 10 in the final 90 seconds of play.
"I think we'll be all right by the time the season is over," said
Barrandey, who is hoping to have all his players outside of Debe Mendoza
back by the final week of district play.
The Bears will be on the road Tuesday night, seeking a win over the
Valentine Pirates, who they defeated in Balmorhea to open the season on
Dec. 3.
FORT HANCOCK (46)
R. Estrada 0 0-0 0; Cavarrubias 2 1-2 5; Gutierrez 4 1-2 9; Gonzlaes 6
0-0 14; Flores 2 2-2 6; F. Estrada 0 0-0 0; Baeza 5 0-1 10; Apodaca 1
0-0 2. Totals 20 4-7 46.
BALMORHEA (60)
M. Mendoza 3 0-1 6; Clark 9 3-4 21; Sanchez 1 1-2 4; Mellard 0 0-0 0; J.
Mendoza 0 0-0 0; Redwine 0 0-0 0; Castillo 7 2-4 19; Rhyne 5 0-2 10;
Rodriguez 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 6-13 60.
Fort Hancock 7 19 5 15 - 46
Balmorhea 12 15 20 13 - 60
Three-point goals: Fort Hancock 2 (Gonzales 2), Balmorhea 4 (Castillo 3,
Sanchez). Fouled out: None. Total fouls: Fort Hancock 13, Balmorhea 14.
PECOS, Jan. 6 -- With no seniors and few juniors to work with,
Balmorhea Bears coach Ennis Erickson said the 1996-97 basketball season
is a rebuilding year for his team.
Friday night's game against the Fort Hancock Mustangs showed that
inside scoring is something the Bears will need to improve on, as
district play approaches later this month.
The Bears scored only four times off lay-ups in the game, while Fort
Hancock's Treva Lucas got almost all of her game-high 18 points on the
inside, as the Mustangs pulled away in the second half and won by a
45-27 final score.
"With the (Christmas) layoff and with our youth, I think we did pretty
good overall," said Erickson, who added "The lack of depth and lack of
experience pretty much caught up with us."
Balmorhea led only once in the game, at 2-0, off a jumper by Stephanie
Dominguez. They managed to score just three more points, on a Brenda
Dutchover basket, over the next 10½ minutes of play, but were also able
to shut out Fort Hancock in the early part of the second period, after a
trio of lay-ups in the opening period by Lucas helped lift the Mustangs
to a 9-2 lead.
It was 14-5 when the Bears finally broke the streak, on a foul line
jumper by Jessica Portillo, and that was followed by a basket by Cherry
Garcia and another 3-pointer by Dutchover, and the lead was down to
14-12.
Fort Hancock upped the margin to six by halftime, at 18-12, and the
Bears were able to keep things close until the final two minutes of the
third period.
It was 25-20 after a pair of foul shots by Garcia when Kitty Bramblett
hit a pair of jumpers from outside - the second from 3-point range - to
give the Mustangs their first double-digit lead of the night. A lay-up
by Jodi Rogers and two more by Lucas opened the third period, while the
Bears were held scoreless until Dominguez hit from the foul line with
3:36 to play, after the lead had grown to 37-20.
Dutchover would hit another 3-pointer in the final seconds of play, and
led the Bears in scoring with 13, while Rogers was also in double
figures for Fort Hancock with 10.
"Being a young team, we're just trying to learn as we go along," said
Erickson, whose team is now 4-6 on the season. "We're just going to try
and cut the mistakes down ad build for later."
The Bears will be in Valentine on Tuesday to face the Pirates, whom the
lost to in their season opener, before playing a home-and-home set
against the Sierra Blanca Vaqueros.
FORT HANCOCK (45)
Jo. Rogers 1 0-0 0; Carrio 0 0-1 0; Jd. Rogers 4 2-4 10; Lucas 8 2-3 18;
Bramblett 3 1-2 8; F. Cordero 0 0-0 0; A. Cordero 1 5-10 7. Totals 19
10-20 45.
BALMORHEA (27)
Dutchover 4 2-4 13; Apodaca 0 0-0 0; Domiguez 1 1-2 3; Lozano 0 0-0 0;
Garcia 2 2-5 6; Natividad 0 1-2 1; Portillo 2 0-0 4; Carrasco 0 0-0 0;
Arredondo 0 0-0 0. Totals 9 6-13 27.
Fort Hancock 12 6 16 11 - 45
Balmorhea 5 7 8 7 - 27
Three-point goals: Fort Hancock 1 (Bramblett), Balmorhea 3 (Dutchover
3). Technical foul: Fort Hancock, Bramblett. Fouled out: F. Cordero,
Lozano, Garcia. Total fouls: Fort Hancock 16, Balmorhea 17.
State and Regional Sports Pages--San Angelo Standard-Times
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