Lubbock Monterey fights off Abilene Cooper, avenges last year's loss, district's odd end

Lubbock Monterey had a chance to nab a share of the District 4-5A boys basketball title with Cooper last year, but the impending historic winter storm wiped out the league’s last night of games.

Cooper, which had a one-game lead over Monterey and Lubbock-Cooper, was scheduled to play at Monterey that Feb. 12, but the district executive committee canceled all games that day and declared the Cougars the outright district champions.

It was something the Plainsmen remembered going into this year’s game with the Coogs in Abilene.

Well, that and Cooper’s wild, 67-66 overtime victory over Monterey at Cougar Gym in the only district meeting last year.

Monterey had both in mind when it took the court at Cougar Gym on Friday.

Four Monterey players scored in double figures, and the Plainsmen held off a late Cooper charge to beat the Coogs 65-58.

“It’s something we talked about,” Monterey coach Josh Davis said, referring to last year. “With them being (district) leaders and being good again this year, it was really some fuel for us to come in here and prove a little bit of a point.”

Monterey (15-11 overall, 4-1 district) wrapped up the first half of district play tied with Wylie (16-12, 4-1) for first place – both a game up on Cooper (16-8, 3-2), which has lost two consecutive games, and Lubbock-Cooper (12-16, 3-2), which beat Lubbock High 65-48 on Friday for its third straight win.

The Pirates beat Abilene Cooper 62-39 on Tuesday in Woodrow. Wylie beat Lubbock Coronado 50-43 in Abilene.

Plainsmen start fast, fend off Coogs

Monterey jumped on Cooper for an 18-10 lead after the first quarter. The Plainsmen hit 7 of 9 shots in the quarter and used a 13-2 run in the final 4:45 to break an 8-8 tie.

The Plainsmen led by as much as 10 (26-16) in the second quarter before Cooper went on an 8-0 run, including two 3-point goals by Jalen Cherry, to pull within 26-25. Azijon Luke answered with a trey, and Monterey held on for a 31-25 halftime lead.

The Plainsmen used a 7-0 run midway through the third quarter to push their lead back to 10 (43-33) with 2:46 to go in the period. Cooper outscored Monterey 6-2 in the final 2:31 of the quarter to trail 45-39 going into the fourth quarter.

Cooper overtook Monterey on back-to-back and-1s by Andrew Gonzalez.

The first after he nailed a 3-point goal to complete a four-point play and make it a one-point game, 49-48.

Then after Monterey missed three consecutive shots under the basket on a possession, Gonzalez scored, drew a foul and hit the free throw with 3:39 to play for a 51-49 Cooper lead – it’s first since 8-5 advantage in the opening quarter.

Luke responded by drawing an and-1 at the other end. His free throw put the Plainsmen back up 52-51.

Gonzalez answered with two free throws at the other end, giving him 14 points for the half, but it proved to be Cooper’s last lead. Monterey outscored Cooper 13-5 the final 2:48.

“We came out a little flat and got down by 10 early,” Cooper coach Bryan Conover said. “It’s hard to come back uphill. We just dug ourselves a hole. Our crowd was great, (and) we finally got some energy in the second half. We just weren’t able to pull it out.”

Free throws seal deal

The Plainsmen hit their last six free-throw attempts in the final 39 seconds, including four by Takeo Young, to seal the victory after Jaelyn Rivera’s basket made it a two-point game (59-57) with 46 seconds remaining.

Davis said the Plainsmen end every practice shooting free throws, and he said that work paid off Friday.

“It’s definitely a focus for us, and it was big to see some guys step up and want the ball to get fouled and go knock down both free throws,” Davis said.

Vyson Miller led Monterey with 17 points, while Luke added 12. Takeo Young and Zyrin Brantley had 11 and 10, respectively.

Cherry had a game-high 19 points for Cooper, followed by Gonzalez with 15. Rivera also had 12.

Gonzalez, a 5-foot-9 senior point guard, was impressive in fueling Cooper’s comeback – scoring all of his points in the second half.

“He played well, really responded and hit some shots,” Conover said. “He kept us in the game offensively. Usually he’s a distributor, but he was more of a scorer tonight. He stepped up and gave us what we needed and gave us a chance to win.”

Monterey, though, had the hot hand all night – hitting 22 of 40 shots in the game, including six 3-point goals. Cooper converted 20 of 50 shots from the field, including seven 3s.

“We’ve got some guys that can really shoot it,” Davis said. “It was one of the only one or two games where it felt like everybody contributed. … It was a good feeling tonight to get a lot of guys in and have them execute and perform and do it a high level and get out with a win.”

Conover was impressed with Monterey’s shooting.

“It’s not often teams shoot that well on the road,” Conover said. “Credit to them. They made shots. Our defense wasn’t very good in the first half. They’re blowing by us. We couldn’t keep the ball in front of us.”

Cooper opens the second half of district play against Lubbock High on Tuesday at Cougar Gym. The Coogs beat the Westerners 63-51 in the first meeting Jan. 14 in Lubbock.

Joey D. Richards covers Abilene high schools and colleges, Big Country schools and other local sports. Follow him at Twitter at ARN_Joey. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.

DISTRICT 4-5A

Lubbock Monterey 65, Cooper 58

Monterey … 18 … 13 … 14 … 20 – 65

Cooper … 10 … 15 … 14 … 19 – 58

LUBBOCK MONTEREY (15-11, 4-1) – Takeo Young 3 4-4 11, Steven Runels 1 0-0 2, Zyrin Brantley 3 3-4 10, Azijon Luke 4 3-3 12, Vyson Miller 7 0-0 17, Brandon Infante 0 0-0 0, Neeko Young 1 0-0 2, Aidan Castillo 3 5-6 11. Totals 22 15-17 65.

COOPER (16-8, 3-2) – Andrew Gonzalez 4 6-7 15, Colin Reed 3 1-2 9, Jordan Willis 1 0-0 3, Jaelyn Rivera 5 2-4 12, Tristen Rau 0 0-0 0, Jalen Cherry 7 2-2 19. Totals 20 11-15 58.

3-Point Goals – Monterey 6 (T. Young, Brantley, Luke, Miller 3), Cooper 7 (Gonzalez, Reed 2, Willis, Cherry 3). Total Fouls – Monterey 18, Cooper 14. Fouled Out – None. Technical Fouls – None.

Mora spurs Lady Plainsmen past Lady Coogs

Kelly Mora poured in a game-high 25 points to guide No. 20 Lubbock Monterey past Cooper 77-37 in a District 4-5A girls basketball game at Cougar Gym.

Aaliyah Chavez added 18 points for the Lady Plainsmen (25-7 overall, 6-1 district), who remained a game back of front-running Lubbock-Cooper and swept the season series from the Lady Coogs. Monterey beat Abilene Cooper 83-46 in the first meeting Jan. 11 in Lubbock.

Karrigan Parrott led the Lady Coogs (13-16, 0-7) with 16 points, and Kyla Speights followed with nine.

Abilene Cooper plays Lubbock High on Tuesday in a district game at Cougar Gym.

DISTRICT 4-5A

Lubbock Monterey 77, Cooper 37

Monterey … 19 … 21 … 18 … 19 – 77

Cooper … 6 … 13 … 11 … 7 – 37

LUBBOCK MONTEREY (25-7, 6-1) – Charli Garland 2 2-2 7, Aaliyah Chavez 8 2-2 18, Jazlynn Vaquera 4 0-0 9, Taylor Garcia 0 0-0 0, McKenzie Begaye 3 0-0 8, Madalynn Campos 0 0-0 0, Jordan Aguirre 2 0-0 4, Katie Scholl 0 0-0 0, Tatiana Trotter 1 3-4 5, Kelly Mora 11 3-4 25, K. Johnson 0 1-2 1. Totals 31 11-14 77.

COOPER (13-16, 0-7) – Jazlyn Hatcher 0 0-2 0, Alliyah Ralston 1 0-0 2, Ashlynn French 0 0-1 0, Asjha Cherry 3 0-0 8, Karrigan Parrott 6 0-0 16, Kyla Speights 2 3-4 9, Marissa Chavez 1 0-0 2, J’Lee Sloan 0 0-2 0. Totals 13 3-9 37.

3-Point Goals – Monterey 3 (Vaquera, Begaye 2), Cooper 8 (Cherry 2, Parrott 4, Speights 2). Total Fouls – Monterey 10, Cooper 9. Fouled Out – None. Technical Fouls – None.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Lubbock Monterey beat Abilene Cooper in District 4-5A boys basketball