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By N. Waddell
The Hayden Lobo basketball teams were in action three times last week with only the varsity boys’ team having success in the win column.
The powerful Ray High Bearcats were on the Lobo court on Monday December 10 exhibiting their running game and intense defense in handing the Lobo team their first defeat of the season. It was a tough ball hard fought basketball game between two teams that like to run with the big difference in the game the play of the big men in the paint.
The first quarter was a battle between the Bearcats front line and the three point shooting of the Lobos. The score at the end of the period stood at 16 to 16. The scoring went down for the Lobos in the second stanza while the Bearcats kept their touch taking a three point lead into the locker room at the end of the first half 25 to 28.
The three point shooting picked up for the Lobos in the third period but so did the scoring of Ray’s big men. The score after three quarters was 39 to 44 Bearcats. The Bearcats started to pull away when Hayden’s defensive monster, Adrian Ochoa, fouled out in the fourth quarter. The game ended with the Lobos suffering their first loss of the season, 51 to 61. Julian Gomez led Lobo scoring with 19 points with a tough playing Michael Rabago scoring 13 points.
Adrian Ochoa pumped in 11 points before leaving the game with five fouls. Marcos Gonzales scored four points, Matthew Martinez had three points and Roman Padilla, still nursing a sprained ankle, had one point.
The Lady Lobo basketball team had a hard time breaking up the swarming defense of the Lady Bearcats in their contest. The game seemed out of hand after a quarter of play when the Bearcat defense held the Lady Lobos scoreless while taking a commanding 0 to 14 lead at the end of the first period.
The Lady Lobos did not back down trying as hard as they could but they could not cut into the Bearcat lead finally losing the basketball game with a 16 to 37 score. Cheyanne Gaona led Lady Lobo scoring with seven points with Kyanan Garcia adding four points.
Rounding out Lobo scoring were Devin Estrada with three points and Angelica Cabrera with two points.
The Lobo JV had little luck against the Bearcat JV dropping the game with a lopsided score of 35 to 72. Angel Denogene led Lobo scoring with eight points with Devin Santa Maria adding seven points. Aaron Lagunas and Jose Gomez each scored six points.
Steven Lucero added five points with Gage Neal getting two points and Johnny Silva one point.
Things did not get any easier for the Lobos in their next scheduled game, a contest against the always hard-playing San Carlos Braves. For three periods in looked like the same old thing, a methodical tearing apart of the Lobo team by the cool playing Braves taking an eight point, 24 to 32, at the end of the first half.
It looked like another typical Braves game adding more points to their lead after three quarters, 36 to 49. The Lobos were not about to go down quietly. They put on an intense fourth quarter of hard defensive play by the whole team, picked up their scoring and did what few Hayden basketball teams have done to the Braves basketball teams; hand them a heartbreaking two-point defeat as the final buzzer went off.
The Braves could not believe it; the Lobos were celebrating a hard fought win, 51 to 49. A hard playing, especially on defense, Adrian Ochoa led Lobo scoring with 17 points followed by an equally hard playing Michael Rabago with 12 points. Julian Gomez added 10 points with Matt Martinez and Marcos Gonzales each scoring six points.
The young Lady Lobo basketball team was no match for the running game of the Lady Braves. They played hard and gave it all they had but the scoring power of the Lady Braves was too hard to overcome. The Lady Braves broke out to a 9 to 24 lead at the end of the first half with the Lady Lobos playing the Lady Braves even in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter was disastrous for the Lady Lobos being outscored 2 to 23 in the final stanza to lose the game 21 to 57. Only three Lady Lobos got on the scorebook with Cheyanne Gaona leading the way with ten points followed by Melinda Marinez with seven points and Ashley Cruz with four points.
The Lobo JV team played the Braves JV team tough but a scoreless third quarter did them in losing their game with a score of 31 to 49. Steven Lucero, playing tough under the boards, led the Lobos with 13 points followed by Devin Santa Maria with 10 points. Angel Denogene added four points with Aaron Lagunas and Steven Butler each scoring two points..
The final game of the week had the Immaculate Heart High School Knights coming to Lobo Gym for two varsity games only. The Lady Lobos took the court first against the Lady Knights with the more experienced Lady Knight players coming on strong to outscore the Lady Lobos in every quarter of the game. The young Lady Lobos played hard but their inability to put the ball in the basket caused them another defeat.
The Lady Lobo trailed 4 to 12 at the end of one period and trailed 10 to 27 at the half. The Lady Lobos could not stop the Lady Knights top scorer finally losing the game 25 to 51. Cheyanne Gaona again took scoring honors with seven points followed by five points each from Melinda Marinez, Ashley Cruz and Kyana Garcia. Devin Estrada rounded out Lobo scoring with three points.
The Lobo basketball team was played tough by the tall Knights basketball team but in the end the scoring power of the entire Lobo team did in the Knights.
The Knights did a good job of holding back the Lobos leading scorer, Julian Gomez, but that opened the door for the Lobos other scorers. The Lobos took a slim one point, 11 to 10, lead after one quarter and extended the lead by five at the end of the half, 30 to 25.
The Lobos kept on adding to their lead in the second half finally putting the pesky Knights away with a 57 to 39 score for their second win of the week. Michael Rabago took scoring honors for the Lobos scoring 20 points with Adrian Ochoa adding 16 points to go with his shot blocking on defense.
A hard defensive playing Marcos Gonzales had 10 points and a heavily guarded Julian Gomez getting eight points. Rounding out the scoring were Matt Martinez with three points and Gabriel Ramos with two points.
This week the Lobos have two road games on the schedule traveling to Tucson on Monday December 17for the return game against the Knights of Immaculate Heart with only the varsity Lobos and Lady Lobos playing. The Lobos will board the bus again on Wednesday December 19 for three games against the Miners of San Manuel High School.
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