Late surge propels Moose past Eagles

Esquibel’s 3-pointers light up victory

By ERIC R. FLORES


ALAMOSA — The Alamosa Mean Moose boys continued their winning ways on Friday as they won their third game in a row, 52-42, over the Pueblo East Eagles.

The scoring started quickly as Alamosa junior guard Ryan Esquibel connected on a jumper. East’s Jordan Gregory countered with an identical one of his own to tie the game.

The Eagles’ Tony Plascencia then hit a lay-up but junior post Chris Green didn’t want to have any of that but he was fouled on his attempt for a lay-up and hit both free throws to tie the game. That was when the three-point shooting contest began. East’s Nick Taibi hit a 3-pointer only to be countered by Alamosa senior Brandon Albert. Gregory then hit a lay-up to put East back on top but that’s when Esquibel took control, hitting not just one but three 3-points in the next several minutes as Alamosa took a 14-12 lead into the second quarter.

The second quarter was a close one, too, but with the Maroons’ slim lead they never gave it up as they worked the lead up to 6 points late in the half, 25-19. Taibi was able to hit one of two from the charity stripe to close the half with a score of 25-20 in favor of Alamosa.

The Moose continued to pull away in the third quarter as junior guard Derek Medina got into the 3-point shootout and by the end of the third quarter the Maroons held a 35-27 lead.

The fourth quarter wasn’t like the first as the Eagles finally landed. Esquibel took the ball down court to widen the lead to 10 points, but Gregory hit a 3-pointer to close the gap to 37-30. East’s Bret Spradley then hit two 3-pointers to make the score 37-36.

Green followed by taking the ball into the key for a short jumper to widen the lead to three with 4:22 remaining. The Eagles came right back and were about to score but had the ball knocked loose and out of bounds. After a few seconds of hesitation, the official called the ball in for Alamosa.

However, the Moose weren’t able to capitalize on the play as Taibi stole the ball and connected on yet another 3-pointer to tie the game at 39-39 with 2:59 remaining.

Medina took control on the next round of action as he hit a 3-pointer but as the ball was in the air a foul was called on East to give Alamosa the basket and possession of the ball. Albert was able to capitalize as he hit a jumper to make the score 44-39. Taibi countered with another 3-pointer to close the gap to 46-42, but with time running out East’s only plan was to foul and Alamosa was perfect from the line, nailing 6 out of 6 shots down the final stretch to seal the win..

Esquibel lead the Moose scoring with 15 points, and Medina was next with 12. Green had 11 points, Dakota Valerio had 7 and Albert had 5. Bob Cody rounded out the scoring with 2. The Eagles won the 3-point shooting contest as they had 7 while Alamosa had 6.

The Moose travel to Cañon City on Tuesday and then host league leading Pueblo South on Valentine’s Day.

However on the girl side of the ball #4 East Eagles expands their domination by beating the the Mean Moose girls.

East 68, Alamosa 37

Alamosa	15	9	4	9	-	37
East	15	25	16	12	-	68

Alamosa-Bussey 4 2-4 10, McGinn 0 2-4 2, Price 1 0-0 2, Micklich 7 0-2 21, White 0 2-2 2. Totals: 12 6-12 37. 3-point goals: Micklich 7. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: White.

East-Eickelman 8 1-2 18, Walters 1 1-2 3, Gradisar 6 2-3 16, Duran 1 0-0 2, Gregory 8 9-11 25, DeHerrera 1 2-4 4. Totals: 25 15-22 68. 3-point goals: Eickelman, Gradisar 2. Fouls: 11.