By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
As a sophomore, Aurelio Gonzalez took a break from basketball to focus on team roping.
The rodeo event, which features a steer and two mountaineers, was his family’s passion. In fact, his father had always had horses around, and he longed to see Gonzalez devote more time to heading and heeling. But while he spent his afternoons doing that, he missed the time he spent on the court, with his Edcouch-Elsa teammates.
“I just regretted not playing,” Gonzalez said. “I was seeing all my friends playing, and I wasn’t able to be with them.”
Gonzalez said he initially made the decision to drop basketball for team roping “to make my family happy.” But once his father “understood that basketball was for a certain time, and the time was now,” Gonzalez felt comfortable returning to the hardwood.
When he rejoined the Yellowjackets, the junior was playing behind seven seniors. He was a rotation player for E-E, learning the system and trying to find his niche. Heading into this past season, Gonzalez was one of four seniors in the fold. Coach Rick Treviño pegged him as the fourth-best player out of the group.
It wasn’t that Treviño lacked confidence in Gonzalez’s abilities. After all, Treviño felt he always had a good shot and a nose for the ball. But the “baby fat” limited his mobility, making it difficult to guard certain players. And he lacked the bulk to hold his own in the paint.
Over the course of an offseason, though, Gonzalez “worked real hard and turned it up a whole other level,” Treviño said.
Gonzalez trained four hours a day at a camp. Afterward, he’d run on his own and spent time in the weight room. He dropped 15 pounds, arriving in the fall at a slim 180 for his 5-foot-11 frame.
Instantly, Gonzalez became E-E’s go-to scorer and leading rebounder, averaging a double-double. He poured in 30 points in one game this past season, and drew more attention from opposing defenses.
“He was unstoppable,” Treviño said. “Everybody knew he was going to shoot and yet he was still scoring. It was around then that we realized what we had, and it was pretty special.”
By all accounts, Gonzalez “surpassed our expectations, by far,” Treviño said. The senior led the Yellowjackets into the playoffs and was recognized as the District 32-5A offensive player of the year. Today, he’ll be playing in the RGVSports.com All-Valley Showcase at 3:30 p.m. at State Farm Arena, marking the latest of a series of accolades he’s earned this season.
“To me, it means that I accomplished my goals and what I set out to do,” Gonzalez said. “I’m just happy I’m able to have one more game to play and have another chance to be on the court.”
Gonzalez’s emergence this season was one of the more surprising developments in the Valley boys basketball circuit, considering his time away from the court. He played a reduced role one season and became the district’s top offensive player the following year.
He developed into an all-around player, who could pick-and-pop or spot up for a 3-pointer. He executed pick-and-rolls seamlessly, and he had the type of ball-handling skills that’s rarely seen in post players.
He shot at an 85-percent clip from the foul line, and he was equally impactful blocking shots, once swatting away eight of Mercedes’ attempts in a game.
“He was the most versatile player, I think, in the Valley, because he could go inside, he could go outside. He could defend a big guy, he could defend a guard,” Treviño said. “Anything you ask him to do, he could do it. His presence there was just amazing.”
“I’m just real proud that he made this (West) team (for today’s showcase). For him to make it, from where he was to where he is now, it’s really amazing. I was really hard on this kid the whole year. My expectations were high once we saw what he was able to do. So now that he has shown success with all these awards and recognition, that’s what we want for these kids.”
As for what inspired Gonzalez, the senior said he “just realized it was my last year to prove myself.”
“I always thought I had the talent. I just never put in the hard work or anything,” he said. “I just knew it was going to be now or never.”