The Taos News from Taos, New Mexico • Page 17

THE TAOS NEWS Thursday, Feb. 12,1998 B5 I Huge point spreads, comebacks highlight Panthers 7 week By Mike Stauffer The faos News wenty-four points. The Penasco Panthers needed that many points to come from behind and edge Santa Fe Indian School Feb. 4, 63-61. They needed that same magic number to blow open a tight, District 1-AA race Saturday (Feb.

7), survive a late-game comeback by the Mesa Vista Trojans and win by that same, two-point margin. In between, the Panthers took one on the chin against Mora, as the Rangers pleased their Homecoming fans Friday (Feb. 6) with a 70-61 win. 'The guys showed a lot of poise this week," Panthers coach Ruben Lucero said, "a lot of heart. They didn't lay down and die when they fell behind.

They came back (in all three) to make a game of it." Against the Braves of Santa Fe Indian School, the Panthers trailed by 24 at the start of the fourth quarter when "their point guard picked up a technical foul (when he took exception to the way he was being guarded by Panther Kiko Funmaker)," Lucero said. "That seemed to change the momentum. We were down 15. We made one of two free throws, then hit a three-pointer. In fact, we hit four three-pointers in the quarter, and two of them were five-point plays.

They called fouls underneath, not on the guy guarding the shooter. It all came to free throws and we hit 10 of 12 in the period. That was the difference." It certainly wasn't the 32 turnovers the Panthers committed, or the 21 offensive rebounds the Braves hauled in. Santa Fe Indian School led 16-13 after one, 33-26 at the half and 50-39 after three. "It was an ugly win, but we'll take it," Lucero said.

Jason Vasquez led with 21 points, Kiko Funmaker 12, Dennis Lopez 10, Michael Owen nine and Adam Garcia seven. On Friday, Mora jumped to a 2210 first-quarter lead, and led 42-26 at the half. The Panthers cut it by 13 by the end of the third period, and the teams played even in the fourth. Even so, Lucero said his team had "plenty of chances to win." "They were up by 17 at the start of the fourth quarter, and we cut it down to two with about four-and-a- half minutes," the coach said. "With about three minutes left, we were down by four.

But we missed four threes and two free throws. We didn't capitalize; we didn't box out under the boards." Lopez had 15 points, Vasquez 11, Owen and Funmaker 10 each and Matt Coriz nine. The first period aside, "we were in total control," Lucero said of Saturday night's key win. "The defense was there." The win, which avenged an earlier-season, 84-63 loss, was a team effort, he added. Mesa Vista had a one-point, 1514 lead, after one period, but the Panthers fought back to outscore the Trojans, 24-13, in the third to take a 38-28 halftime lead.

And they needed every bit of that 10- point lead, as the Trojans outscored the Panthers by four in the third and four in the fourth to come up just two points short. "Our inside man missed five easy shots in the first period and had two passes go through his hands," Lucero said. "That's seven points. But I think the difference was that our guards showed a lot of poise and free throws. We hit 15 of 19, they had just eight of 16.

And we out-rebounded them, 35-24." Owen led with 20 points; Lopez had 15, all in the second half; Funmaker 12; Vasquez 10; and Garcia six. For the Trojans, Lando Alire had 23, Miguel Garcia 17, Leandro Gallegos 12 and Ernesto Archuleta 10. Lucero said a lot of the credit for Penasco's success last week goes to assistant coach Clarence Vigil. "He did an excellent job of coaching," Lucero said of Vigil, a former assistant coach under Rudy Aragon and member of Penasco's 1981 state championship team. "He knows the game, he knows the system," Lucero said.

"His efforts have been real positive for all of us." In other action last week, Mesa Vista defeated McCurdy Thursday (Feb. 5), 47-37. The Trojans led 13-6 after one, 25-13 at the half and 35-20 heading into the fourth. Archuleta had 17 points and Garcia 13. Grapplers tune up for district showdown Mike Stauffer Mark Martinez, on top of Hilltopper Jay Estes, eventually finished on the bottom in a 5-3 loss.

Taos defeated Los Alamos in a dual match Feb. 3, 54-28. By Mike Stauffer The Taos News I its final tuneup before the District 3-AAAmeet planned Saturday (Feb. 14) in Las Vegas, the Taos Tigers survived some early-round matches and several losses by default to cruise past Los Alamos in Taos Feb. 3, 54-28.

The state AAA meet is planned Feb. 20-21 in Moriarty. Taos struggled with two early losses, as Jesus Santistevan, at 103, fell behind and stayed there, loosing 18-5; and Eric Rivera, at 112, trailed Gabe Stevenson 2-0 after the first two minutes, pulled to within 2-1 after two periods, before losing, 4-1. The tide turned when Mark Montoya, at 119, pinned Jake Adams with 59 seconds remaining in the first period, and Randy Sanchez, at 125, won by forfeit, as did Mario Vigil at 130. At 135, Marcos Martinez led Jay Estes 2-0 after the first period, and held the lead through the second.

In the third period, Martinez lost a point when he was called for locking his hands around Estes, then lost two more before fighting back to tie the match at 3-all after three periods. But in the sudden-death overtime, Estes managed to escape a hold and record the 5-3 win. Taos lost by forfeit at 145, but Los Alamos returned the favor at 145, as Nick Martinez recorded a forfeit. At 152, Los Alamos forfeited. At 160, Taos forfeited, and at 171, both teams forfeited.

But the dual match ended in a flourish, with three straight pins. At 189, Justin Fernandez pinned Ron Hallis at the 1:54 mark; at 215, Jeremiah Martinez pinned Tony Bentley; and at heavyweight, Matt Romero dropped Keith Sandoval at 1:03. Mark Montoya, at 119, pinned Jake Adams in the first period. Knighthawks win Chess League title The Taos Knighthawks Chess Club racked up more victories Saturday (Feb. 7), as both the Enos Garcia and Taos elementary school teams were named 1998 Northern Schools Chess League champions following play in Santa Fe.

In addition, fifth-grader David Bergerson was named outstanding player in the league and won the coveted Andy Nowak Award, Enos Garcia coach Dennis Hedges said, which includes a plaque and a gift certificate for chess equipment. For the Taos Elementary team, coached by Liz Moya and Leo Pacheco, the outcome was never in doubt. Of 45 games played, team members won 43. The Pi championship team avenged an earlier defeat with its 4-1 win over Eldorado School of Santa Fe. Members of the team are Laz Cardenas, Kyle Henke, Travis Thompson, Joshua Hensley and Kahil Oysler.

But Moya said an even bigger surprise was the performance of the all-girl team she put together Nia Torres, Sarah Pacheco, Amber Quintanilla, Julie Callagan and Sonya An ay a. "Every player on the team went undefeated, even our first-grader," Moya said. "It was pretty remarkable." Moya's third team won all three of its matches, with a combined 14-1 score. Moises Medina, Matthew Height, Kelby Schuetz, Justin Fishback and Joseph Machado combined to tie the all-girl team for first place in the division. The Enos Garcia team had a tougher going, but in the end, pulled out the win over two tough teams from Los Alamos and Santa Fe.

"It's been tough playing without our sixth-graders," Hedges said. The sixth-graders are now in Taos Middle School. "I think we're the only school in the league that has adopted the middle school concept which makes our sixth-graders ineligible." But Bergerson, Nathan Kelly, Andy Williams, Jonathan Height and Jesse Williams proved good enough to take the top spot. The Enos Garcia team finished second in the reserve section, the team took first in novice and the team was fourth in the booster division. Undefeated players included Williams, Thompson, Ty Serna, Chris Callagan, Antonio Martinez and Lorraine Oest de Herrera.

"I'm really proud of our young players," Moya added. "A lot of them are only in the second grade. The future looks good." Never-quit Lady Wildcats set sights on district tourney McCurdy too tough, Escalante slips by By Mike Stauffer The Taos News QUESTA The Questa Lady Wildcats started the week on the right foot, with its 4838 win over county-rival Penasco Feb. 3, but stumbled out of the gate with back-to-back losses to McCurdy and Escalante. The week leaves Questa battling for the third seed in the upcoming District 1-AA tournament.

The regular season ends Saturday (Feb. 14) at Penasco. "I'm real pruucl of these girls," coach Michael Rael said. "They never gave up. They gave it everything they had." Questa took control of the Lady Panthers early and never let go, Rael said.

"It was a good, tough game, but our girls were really in charge throughout." "We had a 20-point lead with about four minutes left. 1 started to substitute and it went down in a hurry. But it was a good game for us," Rael said. Pearl Salazar led the scoring with 25 points, Leslie Maes, Samantha Martinez and Ramona Sanchez each had five, Celina Rael four and Nicole Robinson and Jennifer Vigil two points each. Powerhouse McCurdy (18-1, 6-0) which hasn't lost a district game in four years pounded the Lady Wildcats, 66-34, Friday (Feb.

6), but Michael Rael said Questa gave the Lady Bobcats all it could handle at least for a while. The girls stayed at it," he said. 'They brought it down to eight points in the third quarter, and their coaches were very complimentary about how the girls didn't give up." McCurdy, which bested the Lady Wildcats in their first meeting, 33-4 by halftime in their first meeting, led by just 10 at halftime Friday. "Our defense was good," he said. "McCurdy has some awfully good shooters, but we gave them a game.

I'm proud of the way they played. We just ran out of energy in the fourth period. We used too much just trying to catch up." Salazar had 14 points, Maes 13, Martinez three and Sanchez and Monica Pacheco two points each. On Saturday, "that old nemesis, missed free throws," proved to be Questa's undoing, Rael said, as the Lady Wildcats fell to Escalante, 48-45. "We hit just 13 of 33 free throws," Rael said, "five of 12 in the fourth period.

Otherwise, we'd have won the game." Maes, who led all scorers with 19 points, missed about four minutes of play in the second half with a sore elbow. "It got real rough in there toward the end," Rael said. Salazar added 16 points, Sanchez five, Robinson three and Monica Pacheco two..