RGV Capsules: Bucks hand Bees crushing OT loss
HIDALGO – In front of a loud season-high crowd of 5,211, former Sharyland standout and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia dropped the ceremonial first puck.
But other than Wylie Rogers’ 35 saves in perhaps his best game as a pro, the Killer Bees didn’t do much to add to the atmosphere in a crushing 1-0 overtime loss Friday to the Laredo Bucks. Matt Hanson’s power-play goal with 50.9 seconds left in OT extended the Bees' winless streak to three (all against Laredo) and sent them to a result coach Terry Ruskowski thought they deserved – if they deserved the one point at all.
“You know what, we didn’t deserve to win, I’ll be perfectly honest with you. We were selfish, we were trying to hold onto the puck to make too many plays. We were getting checked,” Ruskowski said. “We didn’t work hard enough, we didn’t hit, our defense didn’t move the puck the way they should.”
Ruskowski added that the only thing that kept the Bees (17-16-6) in the game was Rogers. In a memorable duel with Laredo’s Torrie Jung (33 saves), Rogers bailed the Bees out for most of the night, including a point-blank stop of Matt Boyd with 2:15 left in regulation.
The one he couldn’t stop Hanson’s slap shot through traffic from the high slot, which dropped the Bees two behind Tulsa for fourth place in the Berry Conference.
Frustratingly for Ruskowski, the man in the penalty box for high-sticking was Aaron Lee.
“He’s our leader and he’s got to know the situation. He’s got to realize what happens and he’s got to react better than what he’s doing,” Ruskowski said. “He can’t be in the penalty box and he gets a lot of those minor penalties.”
Lee, who also found himself in the box for interference with 6:52 left in the third, took responsibility for what happened.
“That’s unacceptable on my behalf. I thought I was working hard,” Lee said. “I guess it’s just some calls that went against me and I’ve got to live with it and show up tomorrow.”
When the Bees had their chances, Jung was up to the task. Jung also survived with 1:40 left in the third when he was involved in a collision behind his net, leaving an open net when the puck rolled to Zac Pearson by the right boards below the blue line.
Pearson’s shot, though, fluttered wide.
That moment was not by any means the lone reason the Bees lost to Laredo (16-22-0). Instead, there were other issues that need to be corrected. And they’ll have to be soon, because the Bees play tonight and Sunday at Allen before heading Tuesday to Tulsa.
"You've just got to look at the positives of it," Rogers said. "We did some good things tonight, we did some bad things tonight.
“Personally, I’m happy with my own performance. I did everything I could. But, as a team… I think a lot of guys are disappointed in a lot of guys and all they ask is we show up every day and work our (expletive) off,” Rogers added. “Some guys are still having a hard time showing up, and everyone’s got to get on board.”
Brian Sandalow covers the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. You can reach him at (956) 683-4436 or via email at bsandalow@themonitor.com.
Basketball
Vipers ready for a road trip
Playing on the road suits the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. That’s why Vipers coach Nick Nurse doesn’t mind heading on a six-game road trip beginning tonight.
The Vipers (16-9) have the NBA Development League’s best road record at 9-3. Tonight, the Vipers play against the Texas Legends at Frisco. It’s the first of three back-to-back road series. The also play at Austin on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 and at Idaho on Feb. 3-4. The Vipers’ next home game is Feb. 10 against Austin.
The Vipers defeated Fort Wayne, 104-97, at home on Wednesday. It was their first home game since Jan. 7. They played their next six games on the road, going 4-2 on the trip. The Vipers are carrying momentum on this trip as they enter tonight’s contest with a season-best five-game winning streak.
“It’s been OK,” Nurse said of playing on the road. “It doesn’t faze me. We are playing great on the road. It seems like we feel a more comfortable on the road for some reason.”
Still, travel can grow tiresome. When the upcoming road swing is complete, the Vipers will have played one home game in a 35-day span.
It’s a tough part of the season,” Vipers center Greg Smith said. “You go out for 15 days, you come back for one game and then you go out on the road. It’s tough on the body.”
That’s how it’s done in the D-League.
“It’s part of the grind,” Vipers guard Kelvin Lewis said. “We just have to focus and get the job done.”
It helps that the Vipers have upgraded their talent level significantly since the beginning of the season. The latest addition has been the return of point guard Will Conroy, a member of the 2009-10 Vipers championship team. Despite not playing since May, Conroy recorded a team-best eight assists in his debut on Wednesday.
“We got nice young talent on this team,” Conroy said. “We have nice shooters and a great coach. … I think the future is bright for this team.”
Conroy is just the latest addition to the talent pool. Recent acquisitions like Smith and forward Damian Saunders, who were both with the Houston Rockets in training camp, have made a big impact. Smith had 17 points and 13 rebounds on Wednesday. The Vipers also added 7-0 center Scott VanderMeer, who played for Nurse at Iowa last season, earlier this week.
“We’ve got the pieces,” Smith said. “We just have to go hard every 48 minutes and do what we do.”
Conroy’s presence gives the Vipers some versatility. He made an immediate impact on Wednesday as he had four assists in his first five minutes. His vision and court savvy give the Vipers plenty of new wrinkles on offense. Nurse said the team is only going to get better.
“It seems like it always takes at least a game once we add a couple of players to figure out the rotations,” Nurse said. “We showed some flashes of being hard to handle, and maybe we’ll be able to win games in different ways coming up.”
David Hinojosa covers the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4442 or via email at dhinojosa@themonitor.com.
College
Benching might turn out to be positive for Broncs
EDINBURG — As difficult as it was to play with only seven players in a loss to NJIT last Saturday, University of Texas-Pan American Broncs coach Ryan Marks may have found his starting lineup for the rest of the season.
The coach expects to start the same five — Jared Maree, Brandon Provost, Aaron Urbanus, Jesus Delgado and Enique Mason — when UTPA plays host to Houston Baptist at 7 tonight at the Field House.
Marks was forced to change his lineup after he suspended five players for the NJIT game for violating team rules. The decision to stick with the same starting five is indicative of how well the team played and not added punishment to those who didn’t play, Marks said.
Nick Weiermiller, Kieondre Arkwright, Ruben Cabrera, Earl Jefferson and Neo Sanchez all served the one-game suspension. Weiermiller and Jefferson are usual starters while Cabrera spot starts.
“I thought those guys played particularly well,” Marks said about his new-look lineup. “It gets Jesus Delgado into the starting lineup. He played very, very well off the bench at Chicago State. Inserting him as a starter is something that we have been contemplating doing anyway.”
Delgado scored 14 in a win over Chicago State last Thursday and played valuable minutes in the NJIT game. With only seven players, the minutes needed to be valuable.
“We had to do good since we only had about six players,” Delgado said. “We all just went out there knowing we had to give it our all. We have chemistry no matter who is on the court.”
Provost played the entire game and scored nine points. Urbanus was 5 for 6 from 3-point range and scored 17 points in 35 minutes while Maree had 15 in 39 minutes. Josh Cleveland came off the bench to play 31 minutes and finished with 13 points.
Delgado missed a 3 at the buzzer that allowed NJIT to walk away with a 58-57 win.
“I though we played well at Chicago State,” Marks said. “Even though we didn’t have a full compliment of guys (at NJIT), I think we continued to play at a good level. I think that the guys collectively feel that we a substantial chance to win any night in the Great West.”
Starting tonight, UTPA will play six consecutive at home, its longest homestand since the Broncs opened the 2003-04 season with six straight, which included an exhibition game against Monterrey Tech. The Broncs have played their last five on the road.
“I think we are looking forward to this home stretch,” Delgado said. “When you are out on the road, it gets a little tiring at times. We have played a lot of good games at home. It will be a good stretch for us.”
FREE THROWS: UTPA leads the all-time series with Houston Baptist 11-8. … The Broncs won the previous meeting between the two teams, 76-70, last February in Edinburg.
Peter Rasmussen covers UTPA athletics. You can reach him at (956) 683-4448 or via email at prasmussen@themonitor.com.
