By KRISTIAN LIMAS | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
McALLEN — Despite keeping up for the first half, McAllen Rowe fell behind after a third-period run by Laredo United South as they pulled away to a 83-74 victory in the championship game of the City of Palms Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Rowe.
Jerry Lopez led the way for the Panthers, scoring 26 points on his way to tournament MVP honors. United South’s offense flowed through Lopez and was a key factor in the third-quarter run that ultimately gave them the lead.
“My teammates had the confidence in passing me the ball,” Lopez said. “It’s all about the teamwork. They passed me the ball and they were confident I would hit my shots.”
It was a game that slipped away from Rowe having controlled a good portion of the first half. But once the second half started, they began to falter and the Panthers took the lead.
“They started hitting their outside shots and we didn’t get back on defense like we were,” Rowe coach Jose Luis Yebra said. “It might have been a little bit fatigue because I was only playing five guys. Even when we started pressing, we’d get a little bit back. But we could never close that gap.”
It was a close contest through most of the first half with the lead changing hands several times going into halftime. Early in the third, the Panthers went on a 10-point run and never surrendered the lead after that.
“After the first quarter, we did a better job of attacking them in the zone and getting the ball to the net,” United South coach Carmelo Gonzalez said. “That let us establish our outside shooting but, really, I think our team just stepped up their intensity and that allows us to run our offense a lot more efficiently.”
For the Warriors, it was a challenge going up against an experienced team.
“That’s a senior ball club over there,” Yebra said. “They’ve been together for a while and they are a very well coached team. We’re young and we’re trying to mature quick and I thought our kids played very well through the tournament.”