Loboes Edge the Alpine Bucks 63-61
Staff Report~~ December 5, 2006

The Monahans Loboes were able to even their record on the season Friday night, coming up with a last second win in Alpine over the Bucks.

Chris Bates rebounded a missed shot and scored to give Monahans a 63-61 win, which put the Loboes at 2-2 on the season going into their game on Tuesday night at Reagan County against the Owls.

"We were ahead most of the game, but right at the last couple of minutes it started  going back and fourth  a little bit," said coach Thomas Clay.  The Loboes led by 10 after one period and by four at the half and after three quarters.

"In the first quarter, Cameron Bennett played real well but we had a lot of different kids score," Clay said.  "I played  mostly my basketball kids in that period, and put in the football kids in the second quarter."

Bennett finished with 12 points, while Arnold Rodriguez led Monahans with 19 and Blake Hughes finished with 13 points for the Loboes, who improved to 2-2 on the season.

Bates is one of the varsity players who had just come out earlier in the week, after the end of the Monahans' football season, and Clay said he's hoping to have two other starters from last year, Chris Roberson and Ricky Rivera, back soon.  Rivera  has been sick, while Roberson is recovering from a fractured arm he suffered in the Loboes' Nov. 3rd win over Tornillo.

The Loboes' varsity was the only team to make the trip to Alpine, as both the junior varsity and the night graders were in tournament play at Denver City this weekend.  The freshman won the tournament, downing the host Mustangs by seven in the title game, while the JV lost to Denver City by two in the finals, after opening with a 19-point win over Midland Christian and a 34-point victory over Greenwood.  The freshman defeated Andrews in their tournament opener.

Following Tuesday's game which is scheduled to start around 8 pm after the Monahans-Reagan County girls game, the Loboes  will host their own 16-team tournament starting Thursday morning at the Jerry Larned Special Events Center.  Monahans will again face Alpine in the final game of the first round at 8:30 pm in the and will face either Big Spring or Seminole on Friday, at 8:30 pm in the championship quarterfinals or at 11:30 am in the consolation quarterfinals.

The other opening round game being with El Paso High against Denver City at 8:30 a.m.  That's followed by Amarillo Tascosa against Fort Stockton, Odessa Permian against the Lubbock Warriors, which Clay said is a team made up of home schooled students in the Lubbock area.  The final game in the top half of the bracket has El Paso Bowie against Lubbock Estacado.

Along with Monahans-Alpine and Big Spring-Seminole the bottom half of the bracket starts at 4 pm with Amarillo Caprock against Midland Christian, which won the Varsity division of this weekend's Denver City Tournament.  Lubbock High takes on Presidio in the other game in the Loboes' half of the bracket.

The JV division of the tournament will be played in the high school gym, and starts on Friday.   Monahans' freshmen will be 20 miles south of town this weekend, for the Grandfalls-Royalty Tournament.

keyed by Christian Porras, Senior '07