Loboes Defeat Golden Cranes by 10
    By Jon Fulbright, Staff Writer  ~~  Monahans News, Januray 9, 2007

The Monahans Loboes were able to handle the press in the first period, and the Crane Golden Cranes weren't able to when the Loboes put their own full-court pressure in the second period of Friday night's game at the Jerry Larned Special Events Center.

Justin Patterson fed Blake Hughes and Clayton Hiers for fast break lay-ups on three straight trips up court in the opening period to give Monahans an early 8-2 lead, and Monahans would score five points off two steals and five-seconds call on Crane in the second period, to widen a three-point lead to an eight-point advantage.  The Loboes would never lead by less than six points the rest of the way, and ended up getting their first win of 2007 by a 56-46 final score.

The Loboes came into the game off a 72-35 loss on Tuesday against Greenwood, in a game where head coach Thomas Clay tried a ten-player rotation of two five-man groups, in an effort to play a more up-tempo game.  On Friday, the Cranes came out early in a full-court press and forced the Loboes into an up-tempo game on offense, and Monahans was able to respond with a series of fast-break baskets.

"We tried against Greenwood to press all the time, but had some trouble.  We're trying to find a happy medium between the two," said Clay.  "But we played a lot more under control than we did on Tuesday."

Crane had bit of a height advantage inside, and was able to pass the ball around inside to set up several early lay-ups.  "We struggled a little bit with their high-low offense on the break until Friday.  Chris Bates would feed Hughes for another lay-up after Patterson's three assists in the first period, and Tanner Owens would score 11 of his 13 points in the second quarter.

"We've struggled at times with that (fast break), so we worked on it a lot this week, and I thought we ran it better than we have all year," Clay said.

Owens had a lay-up to start the second period and give Monahans a 17-13 lead, then added a rebound basket, a 3-point jumper and four foul shots during the rest of the period, which ended with the Loboes holding a 33-24 lead.

"He's really starting to shoot the ball a lot better, and he did a good job going to the basket," said Clay.

Monahans also got a rebound tip from Chris Roberson, who saw his first action of the season on Friday, and a 3-pointer by Ricky Rivera to close out the first half.  The Loboes would lead by as many as 14 points in the third period, before a jumper at the buzzer by Tyler Esparza made it a 41-29 game.  In the fourth quarter, Justin Furgeson hit a couple of baskets to cut the lead to 45-37 midway though the quarter, but Hughes then hit a foul line jump and hits 3 of 4 from the foul line over the next minute, widening the lead back to 13, at 50-37.

Crane would get to within eight once more, at 53-45, with 2:11 to play, but Monahans was than able to kill a minute off the clock before Patterson was fouled and made two free throws at the 1:06 mark to increase the lead back to 10 points.

Hughes was the only Monahans player in double figures with 12 points, while Furgeson had 10 to lead Crane, which had beaten a shorthanded Monahans squad back in November on their home court by a 60-41 score.  "That's the first time this season we've had all our players available, and we only had that  for on half," said Clay, who sat two of his usual starters, Arnold Rodriguez and Sean Merrick, out of the game in the first half.

The win improved Monahans' record to 9-11 going into their Tuesday night game in Seminole against the Indians.  The teams played twice December in Monahans, with the Loboes winning the last meeting by a 59-51 score, after the Indians downed the Loboes  in the Sandhills Tournament, 68-50.

Monahans also won Friday's sub varsity game, by a 40-19 score.  Clay said with the regular JV playing the Fort Stockton Tournament, several freshmen played with the remaining JV players, with Quincy Titus leading Monahans with 11 points, while Trevor Owens had 10 for the Loboes.

keyed by Alvin Porras, Senior '07