DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
ROMA — They outworked them. They outfought them, outshot them and outran them. Edinburg Vela’s boys basketball team simply manhandled Laredo Martin during their Class 5A regional quarterfinal Tuesday at Roma High School.
The SaberCats won 102-48 and even that is not enough to describe how much Vela dominated. Vela (31-6) scored no fewer than 18 points in any quarter and scored as many as 37 (second quarter). The Tigers (20-16) had almost twice as many turnovers (22) as field goals (12) and did not score their first field goal until 1:47 was left in the first quarter.
Vela plays Sam Houston at 6 p.m. Friday at Blossom Athletic Center in San Antonio for its regional semifinal playoff game.
“We knew exactly what was going to happen tonight, we knew exactly what to expect from Laredo Martin,” Vela coach Lalo Rios said. “Our guys responded very well.”
The SaberCats knew the Tigers were going to slow it down. They knew the Tigers did not have depth like they did. They also knew Martin did not have the speed or ballhandling like they did.
So Vela pressed from the start, forcing 10 first-quarter Martin turnovers and jumping out to a 25-7 advantage heading into the second.
By early in the second, the SaberCats were rolling, pop-shooting from 3, turning steals into layups and leading 62-20 at halftime.
Martin went seven players deep in the first half. Vela went 11.
“Games like this, you’ve got to give a lot of credit to our third team,” said forward Alec de la Cruz, who had a game-high 22 points. “They’re the ones that pound on us in practice, keep on us, and if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be in the condition we’re in.”
Six SaberCats scored in double figures, while no Tiger did so. The SaberCats scored at least 100 points for the fourth time this season, and they credit the practices, depth (they carry 15 players on varsity) and offseason training for playing at a pace that is rarely seen in south Texas.
“Practices are games for us,” said guard Ryan Garza, who had 18 points and six assists. “We know what we’ve got to do as soon as we step into the door for any game because we’ve already done it in practice.”
Rios and players admitted that last week’s area round overtime win against Corpus Christi Miller helped Tuesday’s game. Rios credited the experience and maturation gained from the contest. Players said the speed and athleticism of Miller gave them an edge for Tuesday.
“For some of the guys, I think that game (versus Miller) made this one a lot easier,” de la Cruz said. “It was kind of like playing in slow motion.”
Laredo Martin defeated Victoria East and Donna High to earn a bid to the regional quarters, but neither of those teams, coach Hecky Noyola Jr. said, had the shooting and speed of Vela.
“We wanted to come out and play slow, make them play defense, but we dug ourselves too big of a hole,” Noyola said. “We knew they had depth, but they’ve got a lot of speed and a ton of shooters.”
Vela connected on 8 of 15 3-pointers. Martin, meanwhile, scored 20 of its 48 points on free throws. The SaberCats’ bench outscored the Tigers’ 28-15.
“It’s very difficult to do what we do,” Rios said. “We train for a very long time. I don’t want to say we’ve perfected it, but we’ve done a very good job of getting ourselves to a level where we feel confident going against anybody.
“We felt if we could play our style of game, very few teams can do what we do.”