SaberCats use strong 4th quarter to top Bulldogs in 31-5A showdown

20 hours ago 23

McALLEN — The Edinburg Vela SaberCats started their week off by joining the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Class 5A rankings as the No. 25 team in the state, but on Friday, the SaberCats found themselves on the brink of losing their first district game in nearly two years.

The SaberCats trailed the McAllen High Bulldogs by double-digits on two occasions late in the third quarter of their District 31-5A matchup before fighting back to earn a 55-51 victory Friday at McAllen High School. Vela outscored McHi 18-6 over the final eight minutes to pull out the win.

“What an atmosphere, what an environment. Two good teams battling it out and that’s what Valley basketball is about,” Edinburg Vela head coach Lucio Rodriguez said. “The guys never gave up, they stayed the course. We chopped at it one possession at a time and we knocked down some free throws when we needed to. Kudos to our boys, man. They stayed the course, never gave up, never hung their heads low and they came back and fought and finished it off.”

The Bulldogs (15-7, 2-1) led the SaberCats (21-4, 4-0) by 10 at the break and back-to-back 3-pointers from McHi’s Dylan Benavidez and Dylan Gonzalez pushed their advantage to 40-28 late during the third quarter.

The SaberCats turned the pressure up defensively with their press and began attacking the rim, which resulted in trips to the line and some tough shots inside from Vela guards Jordan Bustamante and JP Olivarez.

The SaberCats pulled within three at 48-45 to set up a Bustamante 3-pointer from the left wing to tie and a layup off a quick inbounds play to go ahead 50-48 with three minutes remaining.

“It was about sticking together and staying the course. We just made sure that all of our heads were in it and pulled out a tough one,” Bustamante said. “Just always believing in myself and the work that I put in and the confidence my teammates give me. I wasn’t hitting nothing in the first half, then it comes down to a big shot and my teammates really put that trust in me and I was able to knock it down.”

Bustamante, Olivarez and Noah Lopez took turns hitting key free throws down the stretch and a late-double team from Olivarez and Lopez forced a McHi turnover late to seal the game.

Bustamante scored 15 of his team-high 19 in the second half while also pulling down 10 rebounds. Olivarez finished with 14 points, Aden Ybarra added 10 and Derek Warkentine finished with seven.

“They did a good job of game-planning for us and Coach (Ryan) Flores always does a good job. We had a slow start but we weathered the storm, stayed the course and just trusted in each other,” the senior point guard Olivarez said.

McHi built its double-digit lead on the SaberCats on the back of junior forward D’Aundre Canada. He had it going from all over the floor offensively as he was dominant on the offensive boards, finished strong through contact in the paint, showed some finesse with mid-range buckets and even stepped beyond the arc to knock down a 3. He scored 20 of his game-high 26 points during the first half while also grabbing eight rebounds. Gonzalez was second on the team in scoring with 12 points off four made 3’s.

Both teams are now set to enter the Christmas break before returning to District 31-5A play next weekend. Vela will play host to Sharyland High at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 28, while McHi will hit the road for a matchup against PSJA Memorial at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 28.

The post SaberCats use strong 4th quarter to top Bulldogs in 31-5A showdown appeared first on MyRGV.com.

Read Entire Article