Loboes Defeat Presidio 55-35
    By Staff Writer ~~ The Monahans News, December 12, 2006

The Monahans Loboes were able to close out the Sandhills Invitational Tournament on an up note Saturday morning, as they defeated district rival Presidio after losses on the tournament's opening days to the Alpine Bucks and Seminole Indians.

The Loboes used a 16-2 advantage in the second quarter to grab a 17-point halftime lead on Presidio, and went on to down the Blue Devils by 55-35 final score.  That came after Seminole had pulled away from Monahans in the second half of their consolation quarterfinal game on Friday to win by a 68-50 score, and after Alpine avenged a two-point loss at home to the Loboes on Thursday, with a last-second two-point win the final first round game of the day, 59-57.

"We actually played pretty well against Seminole," said Loboes' coach Thomas Clay.  "We were staying with them for three quarters, and then in the fourth quarter they shot 14 free throws.  Some of those were because we were fouling to try and get the ball, but when you give them 14 free throws, they'll knock them down."

The Indians held a 16-12 lead after one period, while Monahans cut that to five at the half.  But Seminole widened that 29-24 margin to 45-34 after three quarters, then pulled away in the final eight minutes.

Cameron Bennet provided most of Monahans' late points, getting all four of his 3-pointers and all 12 of his points in the last period, while Arnold Rodriguez led the Loboes with 18.  Seminole was led by Zach Pipkin and Bradley Gressett, both with 15 points.

Clay said Rodriguez didn't play on Saturday because he was taking his ACT tests.  "So we shot a lot more outside, and today, we shot real well.  (Sean) Merrick shot well, and (Justin) Patterson shot real well."

Merrick had 18 points while Patterson hit a trio of 3-pointers in the game.  Blake Hughes also was in double figures for Monahans with 11, while Presidio's high scorer was Oscar Carrasco, with nine.

"We worked hard and rebounded today better than we did against Seminole," Clay said.  "Presidio's a decent team.  They shot the ball well against Amarillo Caprock on Friday."

Clay said in Thursday's loss to Alpine, the Loboes had a chance to win, but gave the ball back to the Bucks late in the game.

"We didn't play great, and had lots of turnovers that killed us," he said.  "We had the lead with 15 seconds to go and had the ball, but we shot it up, and they got the ball back, and their kid hit a 3 from the corner to win the game."

Monahans was the only one of the three District 2-3A basketball teams entered in the tournament to come up with a victory in their three games. Presidio lost to Lubbock High in the opening round before losses to Caprock and the Loboes, while Fort Stockton was beaten by Amarillo Tascosa in their opener, then fell to Denver City before closing out with a 57-38 loss to El Paso Bowie in the Opening game on Saturday.

The tournament final was an all-Lubbock affair, with state-ranked Lubbock Estacado winning by a 74-48 score over Lubbock High.  Tascosa downed Big Spring, 66-43 in the third place game, and Caprock edged Denver City, 39-37, for consolation.

Monahans' junior varsity did a little better in their bracket of the Sandhills Tournament.  The Loboes' JV placed third, beating Presidio, 69-24, after an opening 85-34 victory over Fort Davis and a 39-26 loss to Denver City, which went on to win the JV title by a 51-49 score over Big Spring.  Tony Dipasquale led the Loboes with eight points against Fort Davis; Aarik Sotelo had 16 in the loss to Denver City and Bo Rose's 16 led Monahans in their win over the Blue Devils.

Monahans' JV was in Grandfalls over the weekend, where they placed fourth in the Grandfalls-Royalty Tournaments, losing their final game on Saturday to Fort Stockton's ninth graders, by a 61-56 score.

Monahans will be home again on Tuesday against the Brownfield Cubs, then go south for the Fort Stockton Tournament this coming weekend.  Play on Tuesday will start with the ninth grade game at 4:30 p.m.  The JV will play at 6 p.m. in the high school gym, while the varsity will start about 7:30 p.m., following the varsity girls game between Monahans and Brownfield.

keyed by Alvin Porras & Keifer Smith