Tijuana Zonkeys Sweep Current CIBACOPA Champions in Two-Game Series
Credit: Zonkeys
Tijuana, Mexico
The Tijuana Zonkeys just finished up a two-game series against Halcones de Obregon on Wednesday at the Auditorio Municipal de Tijuana. Los Burro-Zebras were heading into the series as the first-place team in CIBACOPA, but were due for a tough task against the current CIBACOPA champions.
However, the border city side did not have a very tough time against the team from Sonora as both games were won pretty comfortably. The first game of the two-game set ended 95-80 in the Zonkeys’ favor in a game that was not very contested. The encounter did start out very competitive as Tijuana only had a slim 46-40 lead at halftime. However, James Penny’s team had an offensive onslaught in the third quarter and had a 74-55 lead by the end of it.
Mychal Ammons continued his fantastic season as he led the Striped Donkeys with 23 points. One of the latest additions to the Zonkeys, Marvell Waithe, also had an outstanding performance as he netted 14 points, and led the team in rebounds with eight and assists with nine. Obregon had the top scorer of the game in Landon Atteberry, who scored 27 points, but ultimately the Zonkeys came away with the win with a solid, collective effort.
The second game of the series was more of the same as Los Burro-Zebras took the series sweep with a dominant 107-86 win. The Zonkeys did struggle in the first period as they were down 23-19. There was poor defending and many missed three-pointers in the opening 10 minutes, but the team did get it together after that. Tijuana had a 43-29 lead by the half and Obregon never came back after that as the Striped Donkeys kept on adding to their lead.
Landon Atteberry led Obregon again with 20 points, but this time around the top scorer of the clash was Carlos Perez with 23 points. Mychal Ammons finished the game with the most rebounds for Tijuana with seven, while Karim Rodriguez had seven assists to lead the border city side in that department.
One of the Zonkeys’ newest players, Marvell Waithe, talked to EVT after the series and showed that the team is not overconfident even after defeating the current Champions. The Canadian player said, “Everything, it’s early in the year. It’s good that we have some early success, but we have to work on everything, on all aspects of the game, because it’s going to be a long year”, when asked what the team needs to work on.
@ZonkeysOficial get a dominant 107-86 win and sweep the current CIBACOPA champions Halcones de Obregon in a two-game series. @cibacopaoficial pic.twitter.com/kY8UCqvFv3
— Francisco Velasco (@FranciscoEfV) April 26, 2018
The Tijuana Zonkeys have brought in Waithe, Carlos Perez, and most recently, Brandon Heredia, as James Penny continues to find the ideal squad to compete in the CIBACOPA this year. Los Burro-Zebras are currently the second-placed team in the league just behind Ostioneros de Guaymas and will be looking to improve their 8-3 record this weekend.
The border city side will host Garra Canera de Novalato at the Auditorio Municipal de Tijuana this Friday, April 27 and Saturday, April 28 to end its six-game homestand.
Francisco, 26, Chula Vista/Tijuana. I have been a Padres fan all my life, did most of the series previews and recaps in the Padres’ 2016 season for EVT. Now I focus more on the local soccer scene. Tijuana Xolos, San Diego Loyal, San Diego Wave.