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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Eagles enter Lamesa tourney after district loss
Two minutes of trouble to close out the third quarter sent the Pecos Eagles down to defeat in Presidio on Dec. 20, in the District 3-3A boys basketball opener for both teams.
A 3-point jumper by Isaiah Natividad started an 11-0 run by Presidio to close out the period and turned a 37-35 Blue Devil lead into a 48-35 advantage, and the Eagles were plagued by turnovers and were never able to get closer than nine points the rest of the way, before falling by a 62-45 final score.
The game was the only 3-3A contest for the Eagles until the second weekend of January. They’ll begin play Tuesday evening in Lamesa at the O.W. Follis Holiday Basketball Tournament against either t he host Golden Tornadoes or Sweetwater Mustangs, and will host the Andrews Mustangs next Tuesday before resuming their district schedule against 1-0 Greenwood on Jan. 7.
Outside of Presidio’s late third quarter run, the teams traded baskets for most of the night. They finished the first period tied at 16-all and Pecos went into the third quarter down 28-26, after holding three-point leads twice during the period. Three-point plays by Luptio Bustamantes and Josh Anchondo during the quarter broke ties and gave Pecos 21-18 and 26-23 leads, but the Blue Devils rallied to tie both times, the second on a 3-point jumper by Jacob Ramirez, who led all scorers with 20 points.
Another 3-pointer, this one by Adrian Tavarez, gave Presidio a 31-26 lead as the third period opened, but a foul shot by Ricardo Morales and baskets by Saul Pina and Anchondo would allow Pecos to tie the score one final time.
A steal and lay-up by Ramirez would be a forerunner of the problems Pecos would have at the end of the period. It would start a 6-0 run by Presidio before a pair of baskets by Morales got the Eagles back to within 37-35.
Natividad followed up his 3-pointer with a side jumper after a miss by the Eagles, and then both Tavarez and Ramirez scored baskets off steals, as Pecos’ guards had problems with Presidio’s pressing defense. The lead would grow to 13 before a basket by Anchondo to start the third period broke the streak and made it 48-37.
Anchondo, who would lead Pecos with 13 points, would add two more baskets in the final period, while Bustamantes had the only other points for the Eagles, who were unable to get to the foul line in the fourth period.
The loss left Pecos with a 3-10 record going into their tournament opener on Tuesday at Lamesa. The Eagles were beaten by the Tors by 40 in early December at the Monahans Sandhills Tournament when they were missing several players, and haven’t faced Sweetwater so far this season.
If Pecos wins, they’ll take on either Big Spring or Levelland in a tournament semifinal game, set for 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, while a loss would drop them into a noon consolation quarterfinal on Wednesday against Brownfield or Perryton.
Pecos girls get 2nd win over Devils
The Pecos Eagle girls’ basketball team opened play on Monday in Big Lake at the Reagan County Tournament, after closing out the 2004 portion of their District 3-3A basketball schedule last Monday with a win on the road against the Presidio Blue Devils.
The Eagles improved their record to 2-1 in district and 3-12 on the season on Dec. 20 with a 51-37 victory over the Presidio Blue Devils, and were scheduled to open play in Reagan County at 6:30 p.m. on Monday versus either the host Owls or Christoval, who played a preliminary round game earlier in the day.
Both the Blue Devils and Monahans are also in the three-day tournament, and the Eagles could be facing a rematch with Presidio as early as Tuesday, depending on the outcome of their game at the Blue Devils’ tournament opener against Garden City. The loser of the Eagles’ Monday night opener will face the loser between Presidio at Reagan County, while the winner will face one of four teams that comes out of opening round match-ups between Monahans and Coahoma and Sonora and Midland Classical.
The winner of Monday’s game was scheduled to play on Tuesday at 7 p.m., while the loser of the game was scheduled to come back and play Presidio or Garden City to start off the consolation round, at 8:30 a.m.
The Eagles came into last Monday’s game against Presidio off a loss to Monahans, in which the Loboes took advantage of a bad third quarter by the Eagles to rally from a one-point halftime deficit. But they also already owned a 10-point win over Presidio in tournament play at Stanton earlier this month.
This time, the Eagles again led at the half and again lost ground in the third period, but as with their win to open District 3-3A play in Fort Stockton, Pecos was able to recover in the final quarter to earn the win.
The Eagles started their rally this time just before the end of the third period, scoring five straight points to go into the final period ahead by nine. The went up by 11 at the start of the final period on a basket by Amalie Herrera, before a 3-point jumper by Monique Ortiz and a Yvette Levario basket got the margin back down to six, at 37-31.
A lay-up by Adriana Armendariz, who led all scorers with 21 points, ended that run, but the Blue Devils stayed within six points until a three-point play by Danielle Garcia with 2 1/2 minutes to play put Pecos ahead by nine, at 44-35. The basket and foul shot started a 10-1 run for the Eagles that finished off Presidio, which got into early foul trouble and saw three girls foul out in the final period.
Garcia ended up with 17 points while Herrera added eight for Pecos, which drew the first bye date of 2005 to start off the new year and as a result, won’t resume district play until Jan. 7, when they host Greenwood, which edged Monahans on the Loboes’ home court on Dec. 20 to improve their record to 3-0.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 432-445-5475, FAX 432-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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Copyright 2003-04 by Pecos Enterprise
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