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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Wednesday, May 5, 1999
Eagles to face Demons or `Dogs in playoffs
PECOS, May 5 -- The Plainview Bulldogs or the Dumas Demons
will be the Pecos Eagles' area round opponent in the Class
4A baseball playoffs, after games that decided first and
second place in District 3-4A and third place in District
4-4A on Tuesday.
Plainview clinched the final post-season berth out of
District 4-4A Tuesday afternoon, as Brennen Bell tossed a
one-hitter and added an RBI double to lead the Bulldogs to a
7-0 victory over Levelland. Aaron Longoria and Chance
McMillian each had a pair of hits for Plainview, 15-11,
which advanced to the playoffs for the fifth time in the
past six seasons.
Dumas, meanwhile, had a chance to win the District 3-4A
title on Tuesday but instead, were crushed by Pampa in a
first place playoff game in Borger, 22-4.
After a 7-9-1 pre-district mark, Dumas bounced back to go
7-3 in 3-4A play until Tuesday, when pitchers Josh Huffman
and Brandon Stroebel were hammered for 19 runs in four
innings by the Harvesters, who are now 17-12 on the season.
The Eagles got a chance to look at Dumas in the Snyder
Tournament this year, and faced the Demons twice at Snyder
last season. They have not faced Plainview in recent years.
The Demons and Bulldogs are scheduled to play a
best-of-three series this weekend in Dumas and Plainview,
with the winner facing Pecos on May 14 or 15. The Eagles,
meanwhile, will play a pair of practice games against
Alpine, at home Friday night at 7:30 p.m. and in Alpine at 7
p.m. on Monday.
Pecos' District 2-4A rivals will also be in action this
weekend. District runner-up Clint will play El Paso Burges
in their bi-district series, while Fabens takes on El Paso
Riverside in the bi-district round.
Spurs' revival continues against Blazers
By LANDON HALL
Associated Press Writer
PORTLAND, Ore., May 5 -- David Robinson and Avery Johnson
are deeply religious men. Before every game, they meet to
discuss matters involving the Lord and basketball -- not
necessarily in that order.
Prior to Tuesday night's game at Portland, the San Antonio
Spurs teammates talked of how far they had come since
beginning the season with a dismal 6-8 record.
Robinson's ``sermon theme,'' as he called it, delivered
inside the cramped visitors' locker room at the Rose Garden,
consisted of a verse taken not from the Bible but from a rap
song: ``Don't believe the hype.''
``When we were 6-8, everybody was throwing stones at us.
Now, everybody's patting us on the back,'' Robinson said
after tying a season high with 29 points and grabbing 12
rebounds in an 87-81 victory over the Trail Blazers.
The victory pulled the Spurs within one win of clinching the
Western Conference regular-season title and homecourt
advantage throughout the playoffs.
``We know what it has taken to get here,'' Robinson added.
``It has been a long season, building the confidence and the
chemistry, and it's here now. We feel we can win on the road
-- anywhere, anytime.''
The Spurs have won just about everywhere they've played the
past few weeks in overtaking the Utah Jazz for the best
record in the NBA. Since losing at Dallas on April 14, San
Antonio has won 11 of 12, defeating Minnesota, Houston, the
Los Angeles Lakers, the Jazz twice and the Blazers three
times.
San Antonio (36-13) needs a victory at Golden State tonight
to earn the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
Utah (37-13) defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 99-92 Tuesday
night, but the Spurs own the tiebreaker over the Jazz after
winning the season series 2-1. The Spurs also won the series
with the Blazers 3-1 and would have the home court should
those two teams meet in the postseason.
Robinson's emphatic two-handed dunk off a missed layup
attempt by Sean Elliott gave the Spurs an 83-78 lead with
12.2 seconds left. Portland's Arvydas Sabonis made a
3-pointer with 10 seconds to go, but Mario Elie's two free
throws sealed it at 85-81 with 9.7 left.
``Definitely, it was David's best game of the season,'' said
teammate Tim Duncan, who had 13 points, six rebounds and six
assists. ``He was incredible tonight. He took us the whole
way througSpurs, who have won 30 of 35 games since that 6-8
start.
Sabonis had 18 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for
the Blazers (35-14), who will be seeded No. 2 in the
playoffs because they won the Pacific Division.
``We're just not hitting our shots,'' said Blazers forward
Rasheed Wallace, whose team has won just eight of its last
16. ``They play good defense, but there is no defense for a
wide-open shot. We've just got to start making those shots
down the stretch. That's why we lost. We played them even
except for that.''
Portland finishes its season tonight at the Los Angeles
Lakers.
``We're a little down now,'' the Blazers' Brian Grant said.
``But it doesn't matter who we play (in the playoffs). We
will be ready. We're not giving up. We're not going to take
nothing from nobody.''
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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