|
Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Monday, November 29, 1999
Acosta stays optimistic though Eagles' loss
PECOS, Nov. 29, 1999 -- Pecos Eagles coach Tino Acosta remains an optimist,
even though a look at the score of Saturday night's game at Odessa High
would seem to indicate otherwise.
Pecos, 99-52 losers eight days earlier at home to OHS, fell to 0-3 on
the 1999-2000 basketball season with a 100-33 loss to the Bronchos in Odessa.
But despite the 20-point increase in the final margin, Acosta said outside
of shooting, "We played better overall than we did the first time."
"We actually played better defense, though you'd have a hard time imagining
it when we give up 100 points in a game. We bothered them more, but they
just kind of out-manned us under the boards."
"Everybody scored and we got good contributions from everybody, we just
missed a lot of shots," Acosta said. "We took 46 shots and made 13. If
we had made half our shots we would have been up in the 50s again."
The Bronchos jumped out to a 19-4 lead after one period and led 40-12
at the half, which was about 12 points less for each team compared with
the first meeting in Pecos. But unlike that night, when OHS' 6-foot-7 post
Patrick Patton was in foul trouble, he stayed around the whole game on
Saturday and scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half, when the Eagles
were outscored 60-21.
"We broke the press easily, what hurt us was half court mistakes. We
made a lot of turnovers in their end of the court, but that comes with
youth," Acosta said.
"Coach (Ex-Eagle and current OHS coach Bobby) Milliorn came in the locker
room after the game and really complimented the men about their effort,"
so long as we keep playing hard we'll get better."
Gary Williams led the Bronchos with 19 points, while Adrian Rayos had
nine to top Pecos' scoring. The win improved OHS to 5-0 on the season.
Pecos' next game wasn't scheduled until Dec. 9 against Lubbock High
at the Monahans Sandhills Tournament, but Acosta said the Eagles are now
scheduled to host the Crane Golden Cranes on Tuesday, with freshmen, junior
varsity and varsity games at 4:30, 6 and 7:30 p.m. Crane had limited their
early-season basketball games because of a possible conflict with the Class
3A football playoffs, but will face the Eagles although they remain in
the playoffs, against Childress this coming week.
PECOS (33)
R. Rodriguez 2 0-1 5; Salazar 0 2-2 2; Rayos 4 1-6 9;
Garcia 1 0-0 2; Chavez 1 2-2 5; Tarin 1 0-1 2; H. Rodriguez 2 2-2 6; Terrazas
1 0-1 2. Totals 12 7-14 33.
ODESSA HIGH (100)
Williams 9 1-3 19; Ronzier 1 0-0 2; Vaught 1 2-2 4; Sutherland
4 1-2 10; Vanley 4 1-1 10; Mathis 3 0-1 6; Casey 0 3-4 3; Evans 4 1-2 9;
Smithee 3 3-4 10; Espinoza 7 0-1 14; Patten 5 5-6 15. Totals 40 17-26
100.
Pecos
4 8 8
13 - 33
Odessa High 19 21
31 29 -100
Three-point goals: Pecos 2 (R. Rodriguez, Rayos),
Odessa High 3 (Sutherland, Vanley, Smithee). Fouled out: None. Total
fouls: Pecos 20, Odessa High 17.
Pecos' shooting woes continue against Andrews
PECOS, Nov. 29, 1999 -- A trip out of town right now might be a needed
change of pace for the Pecos Eagles' shooting touch, though coach Brian
Williams doesn't know if the Eagles will be headed to Crane Tuesday or
staying at home for the fifth straight time.
The Eagles' home court shooting woes continued Saturday afternoon against
the Andrews Mustangs, as they fell to 0-4 on the young basketball season
with a 77-28 loss. Pecos scored 20 of those points by halftime and trailed
by 16, but could manage only two field goals over the final 16 minutes
of play.
"It wasn't a bad intensity level. We picked up some (from Tuesday's
loss to Fort Stockton), but we can't shoot the ball," Williams said. "We
rebounded better, but we'd get four chances inside and miss them all, or
we'd steal the ball and then miss the lay-up."
The Eagles ended up shooting 11.8 percent from the field (7 for 59)
and 12.5 percent from 3-point range (1-for-8) though they were better from
the foul line than against Fort Stockton, going 11-for-20. But Andrews
freshman Rani Roberts almost matched Pecos' point total by herself, scoring
22 points, including 7-for-10 from the line.
"Andrews played a man defense, but once they found we couldn't shoot
from the outside they just went into a zone and packed it down," said Williams,
who added his team was also hurt by rushed shots and backcourt steals.
"We're just not a patient team. We didn't run our offense at all," said
Williams.
Maricela Arenivas hit just one field goal on the day, but managed to
get into double figures in scoring with 11, thanks to a 9-for-12 afternoon
from the field. Judy Del Hierro has 12 points, and Katy Farris added 11
for the Mustangs, who improved to 3-1 on the season.
The Eagles will try again for their first win on Tuesday against Crane.
"Hopefully, we can do better there," said Williams, but added that because
Crane's boys have added a game with the Eagles in Pecos on Tuesday, the
girls' game could be moved here as part of a doubleheader.
Andrews also won Saturday's junior varsity game, 48-12. Tiana Terry
led the Eagles with eight points.
ANDREWS (77)
Roberts 1 1-2 3; Medina 2 0-0 4; Robbins 7 7-10 22; Baeza
4 0-1 9; Del Hierro 6 0-1 12; Farris 4 3-3 11; Martinez 4 1-2 9; Reed 3
0-1 6; Bane 1 0-2 2; Crawford 0 0-0 0. Totals 32 12-22 78.
PECOS (28)
C. Arenivas 0 1-2 1; Rodriguez 1 0-0 2; Marquez 2 0-0
5; Molinar 0 0-0 0; Quiroz 2 1-2 5; Salgado 0 0-0 0; M. Arenivas 1 9-12
11; Medrano 0 0-0 0; Salcido 0 0-0 0; Lara 0 0-0 0; Fobbs 2 0-2 4. Totals
8 11-20 28.
Andrews 22 14
26 15 - 77
Pecos
10 10 3
5 - 28
Three-point goals: Andrews 1 (Robbins), Pecos 1
(Marquez). Fouled out: None. Total fouls: Andrews 17, Pecos
15.
Upsets put Texas in hoop poll's Top 10
By The Associated Press
Cincinnati, which won the Big Island Invitational, remained No. 1 in
the AP college basketball for third straight week today. Texas, which won
the Puerto Rico Shootout, jumped into the Top Ten for the first time in
almost 18 years.
Last week's preseason tournaments caused quite a bit of shuffling in
the rankings as all but three teams in the preseason Top Ten have lost
at least one game.
And it's still November.
The Bearcats (4-0) received 55 first-place votes and 1,671 points from
the national media panel. They were the only team from last week's Top
Ten to be in the same spot this week.
North Carolina (3-0), which won the Maui Invitational, moved from fourth
to second, getting seven No. 1 votes and 1,567 points. Stanford (5-0),
which beat then-No. 2 Auburn in the Wooden Classic on Saturday, had four
first-place votes and 1,541 points, 30 more than Preseason NIT champion
Arizona (4-0), which got two first-place votes.
Cincinnati, North Carolina and Arizona are the only unbeaten teams from
the preseason Top Ten.
Connecticut, the preseason No. 1, moved from seventh to fifth and was
followed by Kansas, which jumped four places, Auburn, which dropped five,
and Michigan State, which fell from third to eighth.
Texas, which beat then-No. 18 DePaul and Michigan State in Puerto Rico,
jumped from 20th to No. 9. Temple, which lost to Indiana in the Tipoff
Classic, fell from fifth to No. 10.
The last time Texas was in the Top 10 was the poll of Jan. 26, 1982,
when the Longhorns were No. 5, their highest ranking ever.
Florida, sixth before losing to Purdue at Maui, led off the Second Ten
and was followed by UCLA, Kentucky, Syracuse, Ohio State, Illinois, Duke,
Tennessee, Purdue and Utah.
The last five teams in the poll were Oklahoma State, DePaul, Indiana,
Maryland and Gonzaga.
Indiana used the win over Temple to move into the Top 25 for the first
time this season. The Hoosiers (2-0) were ranked all last season, reaching
as high as No. 8 in late December and finishing No. 19 in the final poll.
Iowa (2-2), which stunned defending national champion Connecticut to
open the season, dropped out of the rankings from 23rd after losing to
Creighton.
This marks the 36th week in its history that Cincinnati has been ranked
No. 1, moving it past Kansas and into sixth place on the all-time list.
UCLA leads with 128 weeks and is followed by Kentucky (87), North Carolina
(79), Duke (70) and Indiana (43).
Threat of lost cash gets NFL players to cut slash
By JIM LITKE
AP Sports Writer
People who say you can't legislate behavior apparently don't watch
enough pro football.
The number of throat slashings reported in the NFL on Sunday was down
to one, and even that one - pardon the expression - wasn't clear-cut. No
sooner had New Orleans' Willie Whitehead finished drawing his finger across
his neck than he began insisting the gesture wasn't what it seemed, that
his inspiration was actually religious, not homicidal.
"I do something that looks a little like a throat slash," Whitehead
said after his Saints lost in St. Louis. "It wasn't that. I was doing something
else, I was giving to God."
Assuming commissioner Paul Tagliabue is as good as his word, Whitehead
will be giving a little something to charity, too, before the week is out.
On Tuesday, after Packers quarterback Brett Favre became the latest high-profile
star caught making the throat-slashing gesture on camera, the NFL sent
a memo to all 31 teams threatening fines and on-field penalties against
any player depicting an "unacceptable act of violence."
Whitehead didn't get penalized for the gesture, which he made following
his first-quarter sack of Rams quarterback Kurt Warner. But once the league's
lords of discipline have had a chance to review the videotape, he will
need more than a note from George Burns to avoid getting whacked with a
fine.
The bigger it is, the faster memory lapses like Whitehead's will disappear
altogether. The comforting thing is that he already got a good part of
what was coming to him even before the final whistle blew Sunday.
The Rams, who led just 7-3 after one quarter and 15-12 at the half,
scored 28 unanswered points in the second half. Warner, who had completed
just 5 of 15 passes for 60 yards in the first half, topped that in the
third quarter by completing six consecutive passes. He finished with 213
yards, two touchdowns and a very resounding 43-12 win, which one of Warner's
predecessors would argue is the sweetest kind of revenge, anyway.
"There's always another game," former Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach
said over the telephone Sunday from his home near Dallas.
"I'm not against celebrating, just the opposite. But I always remembered
that sooner or later, there was going to be another game against the same
guys you were celebrating in front of. And you knew that some of them had
long memories. That was enough to keep things short and pretty respectful."
In an era when single sacks and meaningless scores become the subjects
of one-act dramas, Staubach took the Cowboys to six NFC championship games
and four Super Bowls, winning two, but can't remember celebrating any of
them with anything more elaborate than a fist pump.
His wildest celebration apparently came at the end of a come-from-behind
34-16 win over Washington in 1977; Staubach says "apparently" because he
didn't remember jumping into the arms of Ron Springs until he saw the photo
in the newspaper the next day.
His coach, Tom Landry, had very specific notions about when and what
to celebrate, but Staubach recognizes a one-style-fits-all approach won't
work either.
"Football is an emotional game; it was never meant to be played by automatons,"
he said. "I don't think reasonable people are going to argue about the
throat-slash; it's way over the top. The more you see it, the more you
see why.
"But the other side of the coin is this: if players would just quit
celebrating every little thing," Staubach said, "there would be a lot less
need for the league to rule what's OK and what's not."
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
|
