Loboes Lose Head-to-Head Battle with Brownfield Cubs
    By Staff Writer ~~ The Monahans News, December 15, 2006

'Cubs' probably isn't the right nickname for Brownfield's boys' basketball team this year.  'Wave' or 'Avalanche' might be better.

Brownfield head coach Jay Cantrell sent waves of players at the Monahans Loboes Tuesday night, changing his starting lineup five players at a time, using three different groups of players once every minute for three quarters or Tuesday night's game at the Jerry Larned Special Events Center.  And for three quarters the Loboes kept up.  They trailed by just six going into the final period, and should have been closer except for a mix-up between the officials and scorer's table midway through the third period that added three points to Brownfield's lead.

But the Cub's 15 player rotation finally got to the Loboes in the opening minutes of the final period.  Travis Mills got open for two of his seven 3 pointers on the night, and Vince Martinez and Demarcus Marley added lay-ups as part of a 10-0 run that turned a six-point lead into a 16- point gap, while Monahans failed to take advocate of the chances given to them by the Cubs at the foul line, as Brownfield came away with a 83-64 victory.

"They lit us up in the fourth quarter," said Loboes' coach Thomas Clay, who had 10 players to work with against Brownfield's three platoon system.  "that's what they do, and they got hot in the fourth quarter.  That kid hit some 3s, and every time we thought we'd cut into it, they'd hit another three."

Brownfield had a size advantage on Monahans, but ended up hitting more shots from behind the 3-point line (14) than they did from inside (13).  Meanwhile, the Loboes opened the game up with a 3- pointer by Sean Merrick, but actually controlled play inside for most of the first half and part of the third quarter. 

"They get you to play at a tempo you don't want to play.  They force you to play an up-tempo game, and we just don't handle the ball well enough right now," Clay said.  "They put so much pressure on you full court, that when you get to half court, they're giving you openings under the basket, but we just didn't get it there enough."

Aside from having more stamina the Cubs' 15-player rotation also gave them more fouls to give up, and they used them.  Brownfield was whistled for 33 fouls, and sent Monahans to the line 48 times.  But the Loboes could only hit half of their free throws, while the Cubs were slightly better, going 18-for-34 from the line, as Monahans ended up with 25 fouls in a game that got rougher in the second half.

All of those errors turned what should have been a 56-53 Brownfield lead into a 58-5-2 advantage going into the final period.  The mistakes earlier had helped Brownfield to a 55-44 lead before the Lobes started to come back, one of several rallies during the first three quarters by Monahans.

The Loboes' led 10-8 in the fist period, on a 3-pointer by Blake Hughes, but Brownfield closed the period with a 10-2 run, on lay-ups by Martinez and Rob Simmons, a 3-pointer by Mills and foul shots by Martinez and Bryan Almuger.  They were up 23-15 midway through the period when Chris Bates had a lay-up and two free throws, Cameron Bennett hit a pair or foul shots and Justin Patterson and Arnold Rodriguez followed with five free throws later in the quarter, and Rodriguez then nailed a side jumper to cap a 13-1 streak and give Monahans a 28-24 lead.

Bennett would later add a basket and free throw, but in the final minute of the period he would miss two from the line, while David Molina and Marcus Flores hit 3s and Marley had a lay-up the last two coming off steals, which put the Cubs up 36-31 at halftime.

"I thought for three quarters we played well, but we had a little breakdown at the end of the half, with two turnovers that lead to five points," Clay said.

Bennett would hit a 3 to open the third period, and Monahans would cut the lead to one twice at 39-38 on a foul shot by Hughes and 42-41 on a three point play by Hughes, after a 3-point jumper by Miller.  But Justin Salas responded with a 3-pointer and after a Patterson lay-up, Flores hit another 3 before the problems with the team fouls began.

Brownfield, which had won by 48 points a week ago in Andrews and placed third in the Catclaw Classic in Abilene last weekend, was led by Mills' 25 points and 16 by Martinez.  They improved to 8-6 on the season.  Monahans, which was led by Rodriguez with 13 points and Bennett with 12 points fell to 3-6 going into their opening round game on Thursday at the Fort Stockton Invitational.

The Loboes open up against the Fort Hancock Mustangs at 3 p.m., and will either face Presidio or Tornillo at 4:30 p.m. on Friday either in the winner's bracket or in the consolation semifinals.

Ten Teams are entered in the tournament.  Kermit plays Pecos, Fort Stockton takes on Wink and Alpine faces Odessa High's junior varsity in the other opening round games on Thursday.

Monahans' JV will be off this weekend, after winning in over time on Tuesday against Brownfield, 72-70.  Jake Wallace had 16 points and Bo Rose 13 to lead the Loboes.

keyed by Kalah Ramsey, Junior