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Thursday, February 14, 2008

Moriarty's Defense A Big Help

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
    Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan would like the Moriarty High girls basketball team.
    Sloan and Lady Pintos coach Joe Bailey both emphasize defense and team play. In addition, Moriarty's Valencia twins, Brandi and Kristin, combine in each of them the post and guard crafts of a Karl Malone and John Stockton, albeit at the prep level.
    The third-ranked Pintos certainly are having some success with the strategy. They're 20-2 overall, 6-1 in District 5-4A.
    Moriarty defeated Albuquerque Academy 42-18 in a district game at John B. Salvo Gym on Friday. The Pintos, who had squeaked by the Chargers 45-40 on Jan. 22 at Academy, revised their tactics for the latest meeting.
    "We changed our defensive strategy," Bailey said. "We played a zone for most of the game. Academy is very post-oriented."
    The shift from man-to-man wasn't because Bailey lost faith in his players' abilities in that regard.
    "Our man, I think, is the best in the state," the coach said. "But with Academy, against their posts, the zone worked ... At least it did this time."
    The scheme helped the Valencias avoid foul trouble.
    "(Kristin and Brandi) are our best defensive players," Bailey said. "But with the zone, they didn't have to guard Academy's posts by themselves. They got some help."
    Moriarty scorers included Kristin Valencia (14), Brandi Valencia (13), Megan Bond (11) and Jordan Russell (four). Madeleine Watson (six) led the Chargers (8-13, 2-3 after the game).
    The Pintos also defeated Grants 42-13 in a district home game on Tuesday. Grants fell to 7-15, 0-6.
    "We got in a little foul trouble (using a man-to-man defense) with Kristin Valencia and Jordan Russell in that game," Bailey said. "But our defense was great. We held them to 13 points. We've held other teams to like 14 but never 13 points. In my coaching years here, that's the lowest point total we've allowed."
    Moriarty's double-digit point production came from Russell (11) and Kristin Valencia (10).
    The Pintos have three remaining regular-season district games, beginning with today's game at Belen.
    "We can't just show up and play at Belen," Bailey said.
    Moriarty's concluding 5-4A contest will be played at home against St. Pius on Feb. 22. The No. 1 Sartans handed the Pintos their only district loss, 55-51 in overtime, on Feb. 5.
   
Moriarty boys
    The Pintos (3-20, 0-7) are on a seven-game losing streak, all against district foes.
    Moriarty's most recent failures include an 81-42 loss at fifth-ranked Academy on Friday and a 70-37 downfall at Grants on Tuesday.
    The Pintos were paced by Ricky Snodgrass (14 points) and Marcos Villanueva (13) versus the Chargers.
    Snodgrass also had 11 against the Pirates, Moriarty assistant coach Anthony Zaragoza said.
    Moriarty hosts No. 8 Belen today.
   
Manzano girls
    The Lady Monarchs (7-17, 1-5) have lost six straight games, including their last three District 5-5A contests.
    Rio Grande edged the Monarchs 48-46 on the Purple Pride's court on Feb. 6. Whitney Polosky of Tijeras had 15 points for Manzano.
    Visiting Highland, ranked ninth, defeated the Monarchs 50-46 on Friday. Polosky scored 16.
    "We came to play (vs. Highland), but at the end, we couldn't finish it off," Manzano coach Raul Diaz said. "We're playing competitively, but we've got to learn how to finish it."
    Los Lunas beat the Monarchs 58-45 in the Tigers' gym on Tuesday. Ashley Clevenger led Manzano with 17 points.
    "In the Los Lunas game, it was a battle to the end," Diaz said. "We've just got to find a way to win, to finish it. We'll just continue to work hard. We'll find a way."
   
Manzano boys
    The ninth-ranked Monarchs (14-10, 2-4) got a big district victory over No. 5 Los Lunas at Manzano on Tuesday.
    The Monarchs won 60-57 after falling to the Tigers 69-65 at LLHS on Jan. 24. Manzano's scoring leaders, on Tuesday, were Mark Tenorio (18), Kyle Lantz (12) and Edgewood's Isaac Dow (11).
    The Monarchs had 11 3-pointers. Tenorio sank four treys, and Dow and Lantz hit three bombs apiece.
    Edgewood's Jordan Burd also had a 3 for Manzano.
    Since Jan. 19, the Monarchs have been in a 1-2 pattern with two losses following a victory.
    Third-ranked Highland defeated Manzano 68-62 in a district game on the Hornets' floor on Feb. 7. Dow scored 16 for Manzano.
    Albuquerque High beat the Monarchs 71-67 in a nondistrict contest at Manzano on Saturday. Dow had 18 points.
    "Our zone wasn't working too well," said Bulldogs senior guard Emilio Andrade, who had a game-high 29 points, including five 3-pointers. "But we took a timeout (with 4:56 left in the third), coach (Ron) Garcia fired us up, and we came back from a 15-point deficit (at 45-30) and won."
    Dow continues to lead the Monarchs in scoring with 284 points in 24 games for an 11.8 points-per-game average. The senior also is the team's rebounding leader with 129 caroms, 5.4 per game.