Loboes Fall to Midland Christian
    By Staff Writers, The Monahans News -- December 1, 2006

Considering the circumstances, Monahans Lobo basketball coach Thomas Clay was fairly satisfied with his team's first half performance on Tuesday night against the Midland Christian Mustangs.  But the second half was one the Loboes would rather forget, as the Mustangs turned a fairly close game into an 83-35 homecourt victory.

"We played them with a bunch of kids straight out of football, and with one day of practice, so we were not going down there set to win.  We just wanted to get some ball in, and I told them just to go out there and play," Clay said.

"We kept it close for a while.  It was 17-17 at one point, and it was 23-17 at the end of the first quarter," he said, adding that most of his new arrivals didn't see significant time until the second period.

The Loboes were outscored there, 20-9 and trailed 43-26 at the half, but it was the Mustangs 26-2 advantage in the third period that really blew things open.  "We just couldn't score in the third quarter, and Midland Christian was really aggressive.  They shot really well in the third quarter and ended up making 10 3's," Clay said.

"They're good.  If we played as good as we could, we would have to be perfect to beat them," he added.  "There're so big, with 6-5, 6-5, 6-3 on the front line.  I only have a couple of guys who can rebound with them."

Arnold Rodriguez had 11 points to lead Monahans. "He played good, and Cameron Bennett shot well. He hit a couple of 3's in the first quarter, and our big sophomore, Blade Hughes, also played well," Clay said.

Hughes and Bennett both had six points, while for the players just out from football, Sean Merrick had four points. Midland Christian was led by Bryan Evans and Xavier Graves with 15 points, and had four other players in double figures.

The loss left Monahans with a 1-2 record going into a game on Friday in Alpine against the Bucks, who defeated the Loboes' District 1-3A rival Presidio on Tuesday, 66-54 on the Blue Devils' court, after a 53-51 homecourt loss to Pecos and an 83-42 defeat at Fort Stockton before Thanksgiving, against Monahans' other two district rivals.

The Lobo junior varsity did come away from Midland with a Victory on Tuesday, defeating the Mustangs JV by a 62-56 score.  Brandon Jaquez had 16 points and Steven Valles 12 to lead Monahans, which will play in the Denver City Tournament this weekend.

Keyed by Ramon & Chance