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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Wednesday, December 9, 1998
Eagles' second half defense cages Loboes
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Dec. 9 -- The last few times the Pecos Eagles have
beaten the Monahans Loboes, it's been mainly due to their
three-point shooting. But Tuesday night, the Eagles could
hardly buy a basket from outside, while Monahans' Brian
Morris was on fire, hitting four 3-pointers, the last one
giving the Loboes a 35-31 lead midway through the third
quarter.
So without an outside came to fall back on, the Eagles
turned to a full-court pressing defense, which did such a
good job the Loboes' next points wouldn't come until there
was 1:15 left to play, by which time Pecos had added 20
points to their total, on the way to a 57-37 victory at the
Pecos High School gym.
"That was excellent defense in the fourth quarter," said
Eagles' coach Mike Sadler. "That was the best defensive stop
we've put out since I've been coaching. To hold them without
a point until there's 1:15 left, that's phenomenal."
Pecos' defense came up with five baskets off steals in the
20-0 run, and caused the Loboes to throw away the ball
several other times, while pot Fernando Navarette began
finding his way inside for a game-high 18 points, after a
cold-shooting first half.
"I think it's really important for a good team, when you're
not hitting from the outside, to be able to go inside and
score, and when we were hot defensively like we were ...
that's going to compensate for bad shooting from the
outside."
Pecos missed several chances in the opening minute to score,
before Morris nail his first three-pointer. Oscar Luna came
back hand hit a bank shot from the foul line and then a
3-pointer for a 5-2 Eagle lead, and Frank Perea would hit
his only 3 of the night at the end of the period, giving the
Eagles a 12-11 lead.
But Pecos spent most of the second period chasing the
Loboes. Monahans took as much as a five point lead, at 21-16
on Fabien Welch's 3-pointer, before Navarette got his first
basket of the night three minutes into the period. The
Loboes were still up 26-21 off a rebound basket by Morris
before a Mark Marquez rebound lay-up got Pecos to within
three at the half.
Luna tied the score as the third period opening, stealing
the ball and then hitting Pecos' final 3-pointer of the
night. But the Loboes were still able to match Pecos'
baskets for the next several minutes, until Pecos got their
offense and defense going as the quarter ended.
The Eagles worked a trio of give-and-go passes -- from
Navarette to Perea, Luna to Navarette and Navarette to Luna
off the back door play -- which turned Monahans' 35-31 lead
into a 37-35 Pecos advantage. Navarette then began to work
his way open on the inside for a series of lay-up, one off
an inbounds play and another on a steal, to widen the lead
to 43-35. He then assisted on Hector Garcia's lay-up and
both Luna and Garcia would then score off steals to increase
the lead to 14.
"Our guards really helped us out tonight. Defensively our
guards and forwards played a good game, Frank played a good
game and Fern, since he was clod from the outside, turned it
around on defense and inside," Sadler said.
Navarette would get another assist, on a Perea lay-up,
before the Loboes were finally able to break Pecos' press
and score, on a Josh Gaddis lay-up, at the 1:15 mark. Pecos
would add six more points after that, and the Loboes'
frustrating second half ended on an appropriate note, with
three Monahans players missing uncontested lay-up as time
expired.
The win gets Pecos over .500 for the first time since their
season-opening win at Monahans. The Eagles are 5-4 on the
season, while the Loboes are 4-3 as both head into the
Monahans Sandhills Tournament on Thursday. Pecos will face
first-year El Paso Americas in the opening game, at 10:30
a.m., while Monahans closes the night against the Eagles'
District 2-4A rival, Mountain View, at 7:30 p.m.
Monahans did win Tuesday's freshman and junior varsity
games, by 56-39 and 54-51 final scores. David Meline and
Martin Vasquez led the ninth graders with 10 apiece. No high
scorers were available for the JV game.
MONAHANS (37)
Tuxhorn 0 0-0 0; R. Porras 1 0-0 2; Gaddis 2 1-2 5; Welch 1
0-0 3; Williams 2 2-2 6; Morris 6 1-1 17; O. Porras 0 0-0 0;
Merrick 1 0-0 2; Arroyo 1 0-0 2; Swan 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 4-5
37.
PECOS (57)
Marta 0 0-0 0; Perea 3 0-2 7; Luna 5 0-0 12; Navarette 9 0-0
18; H. Garcia 4 1-2 9; Marquez 4 3-4 11. Totals 25 4-8 57.
Monahans 11 15 9 2 --37
Pecos 12 11 14 20 --57
Three-point goals: Monahans 5 (Morris 4, Welch), Pecos 3
(Luna 2, Perea). Fouled out: None. Total fouls: Monahans 9,
Pecos 7.
Pecos pulls out win at finish over Stockton
By JOB FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Dec. 9 -- Their games may not be works of art, but
the Pecos Eagles and Fort Stockton Prowlers at least are
coming up with exciting finishes to their basketball games
this season.
Two weeks after the Prowlers pulled out a mistake filled,
53-49 victory in Fort Stockton, the Eagles turned the
tables, edging the Prowlers 36-33 Tuesday night at the Pecos
High School gym.
Fort Stockton rallied from a nine-point second half deficit
to tie the game at 33-all on Jacinda Gonzales' rebound
lay-up with just over a minute to play. Gonzales then had a
chance to put Fort Stockton ahead from the foul line with 27
seconds left, but she missed the front end of a one-and-one,
and after Philonicus Fobbs came up with the rebound Lindsey
Hathorn found a wide-open Maricela Arenivas with a
full-court pass for the game-winning lay-up with 17 seconds
to play.
The Eagles would then steal the ball and Arenivas would add
a free throw with 13 seconds left, and the Prowlers would
fail on a game-tying 3-point try in the final seconds.
"We did all right. We're coming around," said Eagles' coach
Brian Williams. "Lindsey hit her shots and did a real good
job as far as rebounding and Philonicus came in and is
finally beginning to understand what we're doing on defense."
Fort Stockton won the first meeting thanks to their free
throw shooting, but on Tuesday both teams blew chances to
score from the foul line. The Eagles were 4-for-18 from the
line, with most of those misses in the second half, while
Fort Stockton was only 5-for-21, including a 2-for-12
stretch in the second period.
Before then, Fort Stockton managed to grab a 12-7 lead
early in the period, off a rebound lay-up by Gonzales.
Arenivas then put in three straight baskets -- off a steal
and a pair of 15-foot jumpers -- that gave Pecos a 13-12
advantage before the foul line parade began. Pecos was held
scoreless for five minutes while the Prowlers' Kaci Galvan
hit a lay-up, and the Panthers got their only two free
throws of the period before Shaye Lara scored off a steal,
and 0-for-6 foul shooting in the final 90 seconds gave the
Eagles an 18-16 halftime advantage, off a foul shot and
rebound lay-up by Hathorn.
The lead would grow to nine, at 27-18, late in the third
period off lay-ups by Lara, Monique Levario and a jumper by
Lara, before Amanda Garrison hit a couple of baskets to
begin Fort Stockton's comeback. They got the lead back to
two with five minutes to play, and while the Eagles were
able to stay ahead for a while, the Prowlers finally tied
the game after two straight Pecos turnovers.
"We turned the ball over 30 times in the first half," said
Williams. "We'd be going down on the fast break and we'd
turn it over. Until we can press and get something out of
it, we're going to have trouble."
Arenivas led Pecos with 12 points, Lara had 10 and Hathorn
had nine for Pecos, which improved to 2-7 going into their
game Thursday against El Paso Irvin at the Monahans
Sandhills Tournament. The Eagles could face the 1-8 Prowlers
again as early as Friday in Monahans. Fort Stockton faces
Fabens in the tournament's opening game on Thursday.
Fort Stockton did win both the JV and freshman games, by
50-47 and 47-32 scores. Kalyn Lara led the JV with 17 points
and Michelle Saenz led the ninth graders with 11.
FORT STOCKTON (33)
Valeriano 1 1-2 3; Fabela 0 0-0 0; Ortiz 1 0-0 2; Galindo 0
0-0 0; Fuentes 0 1-6 1; Robledo 4 1-5 9; Galvan 2 1-3 5;
Gonzales 4 1-5 9; Legaretta 0 0-0 0; Garrison 2 0-0 4.
Totals 14 5-21 33.
PECOS (36)
Lara 5 0-2 10; Marquez 0 0-0 0; Garcia 0 0-0 0; Payne 0 0-0
0; Molinar 0 0-0 0; Quiroz 0 0-1 0; Salcido 0 0-0 0;
Arenivas 5 2-5 12; Levario 2 0-2 4; Hathorn 4 1-4 9; Fobbs 0
1-4 1. Totals 16 4-18 36.
Fort Stockton 10 6 6 11 --33
Pecos 7 11 9 9 --36
Three-point goals: None. Fouled out: Fort Stockton, Fuentes.
Total fouls: Fort Stockton 21, Pecos 21.
Aggies' Nguyen wins Lombardi Award
HOUSTON, Dec. 9 (AP) -- Size has never bothered linebacker
Dat Nguyen on the football field and it certainly didn't
hurt him in voting for the Lombardi Award.
Nguyen, Texas A&M's all-time leading tackler despite his
5-foot-11, 221-pound frame, beat out three hulking finalists
Tuesday night for the award, presented annually to the
nation's top college lineman.
The hefty runnersup were Ohio State linebacker Andy
Katzenmoyer, 6-4, 265, Wisconsin tackle Aaron Gibson, 6-7,
370 and Georgia tackle Matt Stinchcomb 6-6, 295 for the
honor.
``It seems like every time I do something it's overcoming
an obstacle,'' Nguyen said. ``I never thought I'd play a
down for Texas A&M. Now I win this and it opens doors for
kids. It doesn't make any difference how big you are.
Anybody can win.''
Nguyen has been beating big odds all his life.
Dat's parents fled Vietnam in 1975 with his five brothers
and sisters and a sixth child (Dat) on the way. Nguyen was
born in a refugee camp in Arkansas before the family moved
to Texas and Nguyen gave up soccer to play football.
Nguyen graduated last August and enrolled in graduate
school to play one more season for the Aggies.
Pecos Enterprise
Ned Cantwell, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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Copyright 1998 by Pecos Enterprise
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Pecos Enterprise