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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Wednesday, January 27, 1999
Eagles `bank' victory over Lobos, 37-36
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Jan. 27 -- An infield chop base hit looks as good as
a line drive in the box score. And a 3-point bank shot looks
just as good there as one that hits nothing but net.
Frank Perea's first 3-pointer of the night hit nothing but
net and helped the Pecos Eagles get out to an early 6-0 lead
on the El Paso Mountain View Lobos. His second one wasn't as
artistic -- a low bank shot from the left side -- but coming
with 47 seconds to play it wiped out the Lobos' first and
only lead of the night, and the Eagles then survived the
rest of the way to earn a 37-36 victory at the Pecos High
School gym.
"We just made a commitment to play better, get after it and
make sure we don't get out-hustled," said Eagles' coach Mike
Sadler, whose team had played far better on the road then at
home in recent weeks.
Mountain View came in with a 3-0 record in district after a
12-point victory on Friday over Clint, the same team that
had beaten the Eagles by 30 in Pecos a week earlier. Pecos
also went into Tuesday's game without their starting point
guard and second-leading scorer, Oscar Luna, who sprained
his ankle over the weekend.
Given all that, the Eagles naturally led almost from start
to finish, except when sophomore Dustin Maloney stepped in
front of Fernando Navarette's crosscourt pass and went in
for a dunk, giving Mountain View a 36-34 lead with 1:06 to
play.
The Eagles came back down and got Perea open for his
3-pointer, and then Hector Garcia poked the ball away from
Gilbert Garcia on the Lobos' next trip downcourt. Jacob
Weidner got the steal and was fouled, but he missed from the
line at the 32 second mark.
This time, Mountain View got two shots off, a 3-pointer by
Damon Lamas and a tip by Maloney that just missed. The Lobos
were still able to keep the ball, but Gilbert Garcia threw
the ball past Ralph Esparza at the baseline with 8.7 seconds
to play.
Perea was fouled immediately on the inbounds, but he would
miss from the line, giving the Lobos one last chance. Garcia
came down and launched a 3-pointer, which bounced off the
left rim and to Maloney, but he couldn't put up a shot
before the final buzzer sounded.
"Our free shooting is going to have to shape up. We have to
do a better job on free throws, especially in a critical
situation," Sadler said, though overall, the Eagles' overall
effort was their best so far at home this season.
"Our passes were crisper, and defensively, we wanted to
make them beat us from the outside, and that's what we did,"
Sadler said.
Hector Garcia took Luna's place at point guard and set the
tone, driving in for a pair of early baskets and keeping
Pecos' offense under control all night.
"Hector played one heck of a game. He got out there like a
little field general," Sadler said. "We call Oscar the field
general and Hector's the little general, and he looked
comfortable and felt comfortable. He made a point of being
more aggressive out there."
Although Pecos led most of the night, they never had more
than a nine-point lead, at 16-7 after Orlando Matta's bank
shot in the second period. Although the Lobes had a big
height advantage, with 6-foot-6 Maloney spent much of the
first half around the 3-point line, hitting one as part of
his 11 points, while Pablo Mendoza had 10 points and the
other post, Javier Garcia, was limited to three.
While the Eagles had a couple of bad passes, the did a far
better job than in their two losses last week, and Navarette
was able to find Mark Marquez several times for lay-ups in
the second half to keep the Eagles in front.
"Our `back door' game came back to us," Sadler said. "We
got more into the concept of running the back door play like
we did earlier this year and last year." Marquez led all
scorers with 13 points, while Navarette put in 10 for the
Eagles.
The win lifts Pecos back into the middle of the District
2-4A playoff race, with a 2-2 mark, 10-13 on the season,
while Mountain View falls to 3-1 and 13-14 overall. The
first half of the district schedule ends for the Eagles on
Friday, when they go on the road to Canutillo.
Pecos also won Tuesday's junior varsity game, by a 62-56
final score, while the freshmen lost to the Lobos, 70-23.
EP MOUNTAIN VIEW (36)
Esparza 1 0-2 2; C. Garcia 3 0-0 6; J. Garcia 1 1-2 3; Lamas
2 0-0 4; Maloney 5 0-0 11; Puga 0 0-0 0; Mendoza 5 0-0 10.
Totals 17 1-4 36.
PECOS (37)
Perea 2 0-1 6; H. Garcia 2 0-0 4; Marquez 6 1-2 13; Weidner
0 0-1 0; Navarette 3 3-4 10; Matta 1 0-0 2; A. Garcia 0 0-0
0; S. Garcia 1 0-0 2; Natividad 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 4-8 37.
EP Mountain View 5 9 8 14 --36
Pecos 10 6 9 12 --37
Three-point goals: Moutain View 1 (Maloney), Pecos 3 (Perea
2, Navarette). Fouled out: None. Total fouls: Mountain View
10, Pecos 11.
Pecos suffers lack of scoring, glut of fouls
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Jan. 27 -- There were bird calls at the Pecos High
School gym Tuesday night. Lots and lots of bird calls.
The calls were the ones by the officials against the Pecos
Eagles in their game against the El Paso Mountain View
Lobos. The Eagles were called for 30 fouls, had two players
foul out before the third period was over and sent Mountain
View to the foul line 46 times on the night, as the Lobos
beat the Eagles by a 69-41 score at the Pecos High School
gym.
While the foul shots -- all but two of them in the final
three quarters -- helped Mountain View build up their big
lead, it was the Eagles' lack of offense that set the tone
for the game. Pecos managed just three points in the first
12½ minutes of play, by which time they already trailed
Mountain View by 19.
"I've said we don't have the same focus at home as we do on
the road," Eagles' coach Brian Williams said. "I don't know
if it's that we have a long day at school then don't go home
and get any rest. ... When we go on the bus (to El Paso)
they get a chance to sleep before the game."
The Eagles played a far better game in their first meeting
with Mountain View in El Paso. On Tuesday, Shaye Lara was
both the only Eagle to score and the only Eagle to take a
shot in the first four minutes of play. "Until the girls
feel like they can shoot the ball, we won't do anything,"
said Williams, who pointed that out during a time-out, with
Pecos down by only a 7-3 score.
The Eagles did shoot more after that, but not better,
jumpers and lay-ups bounced or rolled out over the next nine
minutes, until Lindsey Hathorn's lay-up with 3:24 left in
the half finally broke the scoreless string.
Mountain View's offense wasn't on fire, but they were
getting enough from post Monica Acosta inside to keep
widening the lead. Acosta was the biggest beneficiary of the
Eagles' fouls Tuesday, going to the line 15 times and
hitting 10, as part of a 20-point night.
Aside from the foul problems the Eagles had, they also had
trouble dealing with guard Susy Alva, who came up with a
series of steals that led to Lobo baskets during the game.
Pecos got a couple of late first half baskets off steals by
Crystal Garcia and Dee Dee Molinar that cut the lead to
27-11 at halftime, but an Alva steal and lay-up early in the
third period was part of a seven-point run that gave
Mountain View a 34-11 lead.
Lara led Pecos with 15 points, though she continued to have
problems shooting. "Shaye struggled today, but our young
kids are putting Shaye in a bad spot. They're passing up
shots and hope she will take them," said Williams, who added
the post Lindsey Hathorn also had a bad night shooting,
after scoring 11 in Pecos' win last Friday at San Elizario.
The Eagles finally got some outside shooting going late in
the game, although they still trailed by as many as 31
points (61-30) in the fourth quarter. Alexa Marquez hit two
from 3-point range, while Katrina Quiroz also sank one from
outside and hit three foul shots after being fouled on a
3-point shot.
Quiroz later became the third Pecos play to foul out, after
Garcia and Monique Levario left with five fouls during the
third period.
Hathorn's eight was next in scoring for Pecos, while Jessica
Quinones had 13 and Claudia Salazar had 12 for Mountain
View, which improved to 4-2 in district, and 14-12 on the
season. The Eagles, fell to 1-5 and 4-19 overall.
"They knew today if they came out and won we'd be a game out
of third place. Now, we pretty much have to win all our
remaining games to have a shot," said Williams, whose team
goes to Canutillo on Friday.
Pecos did win Tuesday's freshman game, by a 45-43 score
Mireya Medrano led the Eagles with 18 points.
EP MOUNTAIN VIEW (69)
Zamora 0 2-4 2; Aguilar 3 0-0 6; Salazar 5 2-4 12; Mendoza 2
0-4 4; Alva 3 0-0 6; Gonzales 2 2-6 6; Quinones 4 5-7 13;
Acosta 5 10-15 20; Loera 0 0-6 0. Totals 24 21-46 69.
PECOS (41)
Lara 6 3-5 15; Marquez 2 0-0 6; Garcia 1 0-2 2; Molinar 2
0-2 4; Quiroz 1 3-3 6; Salcido 0 0-0 0; Levario 0 0-0 0;
Hathorn 4 0-2 8; Fobbs 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 6-14 41.
EP Mountain View 12 15 23 19 --69
Pecos 3 8 15 13 --41
Three-point goals: Pecos 3 (Marquez 2, Quiroz). Fouled out:
Pecos, Garcia, Levario, Quiroz. Total fouls: Mountain View
18, Pecos 30.
Bears notch sweep over Sierra Blanca
PECOS, Jan. 27 -- The Balmorhea Bear basketball teams
scored a sweep of their District 1-A home games Tuesday
night against the Sierra Blanca Vaqueros, with the boys
staying unbeaten in district play while the girls posted
their first victory.
The boys upped their mark to 2-0 with a 55-49 win over
Sierra Blanca, and the girls had an easier time, snapping a
four-game losing streak with a 52-31 win.
Coach Adolfo Garcia said while his boys never built a big
lead on Sierra Blanca, "We were ahead the whole game. I got
to play all my players -- I played the starters for the
first six minutes of the quarter and they last two minutes I
let the subs come in."
Arturo Miranda led the Bears with 15 points and Manny
Mendoza added 12. T.J. Bustamante led Sierra Blanca with 17.
"We're playing a lot better right now," said Garcia, whose
team is seeking its fourth straight district championship
after a slow start this season "We're 2-0 right now and have
one more game in the first half of the district. If we win
that, we'll have a pretty good chance to win district again."
Girls' coach Ennis Erickson was unavailable today, but his
team evened their district mark at 1-1 with Tuesday's win.
Garcia said the Bears took a big early lead and maintained
it the rest of the way, led by Celina Rodriguez' 16 points.
The first half of the Bears' district schedule concludes on
Friday night, with a pair of games in Valentine against the
Pirates.
Sharpe, Buchanan focus of Super Bowl talk
By STEVEN WINE
AP Sports Writer
MIAMI, Jan. 27 -- He wore a black leather dog collar with
silver studs. The only thing missing was a muzzle.
And so Ray Buchanan talked. And he talked. And he talked.
The Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons didn't practice
Tuesday -- who needs to practice five days before the Super
Bowl? -- so players exercised their jaws instead at media
day. A pair of motormouths took charge: Buchanan for the
Atlanta Falcons, Shannon Sharpe for the Denver Broncos, 60
minutes apiece before a cluster of microphones and notepads
at Pro Player Stadium.
The two talked to a draw. Sharpe displayed a wit worthy of
his name, but Buchanan's collar also made a statement.
``The neckwear is for the media, because everybody calls us
underdogs,'' said Buchanan, a 27-year-old Pro Bowl
cornerback. ``It's actually a dog collar. I bought it at a
pet store. They put it on Rottweilers.''
Remember meek Wally Cox, the voice of the 1960s TV cartoon
character Underdog? Buchanan sounded nothing like that. He
stood by his guarantee of a Falcons victory over the
Broncos, deftly answered questions from a Comedy Central
reporter (``Are you housebroken?'') and waxed hyperbolic in
the best Super Bowl tradition.
``The Super Bowl is big,'' he said. ``It's bigger than life
itself sometimes.''
Sharpe was forced to follow Buchanan's breathtaking
performance, but Sharpe barely pauses for breath anyway.
``I've pretty much lived in Georgia my whole life, and I
never liked the Falcons,'' said the Pro Bowl tight end, a
native of Glennville, Ga., who played at Savannah State
College. ``What was there to like about them? They lost all
the time. If you had a pair of cleats on, they'd put you in
the ballgame, they were getting beat so bad. For $20 you
could sit in the luxury box with the owner.''
Unlike Buchanan, Sharpe refused to risk putting his foot in
his mouth with a victory guarantee. Buchanan's team is a
seven-point underdog against the defending Super Bowl
champions.
``He's not an underdog anymore, because he went out on a
limb and guaranteed a victory,'' Sharpe said. ``He has the
luxury of saying, `I guarantee a win,' and if they lose, so
what? No one expected them to win anyway. Whereas if I were
to say, `I guarantee the Broncos are going to beat the
Falcons,' what an idiot Shannon looks like if the Broncos
lose.''
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, 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
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 1999 by Pecos Enterprise
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