By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
For the second time in three years, IDEA Mission will be playing in the Texas Charter School Academic Athletic League state tournament.
The Phoenix earned the trip after beating IDEA Donna 67-44 last week to return to the final four. It’ll mark their second such appearance since Stanley Asumnu took over as coach.
IDEA Mission lost in the semifinals that year before falling in the regional championship in 2014. Francisco Cruz and Juan Villarreal were bench players as freshmen when the team went to the tournament. Now juniors, the two played a pivotal role for IDEA Mission this season as it went 11-3 in district.
“For these two guys, it was a learning process for them (as freshmen),” Asumnu said. “But they’re starters now and they’ve grown a lot over the past couple of years. They’re guys that have gotten a chance to see what it was like (at state), and they’re getting better and better.”
The Phoenix (20-14) has had arguably their toughest route to state since Asumnu took over. They played (and beat) public schools this season, and they finished in a four-way tie for first place in district en route to the playoffs.
They beat IDEA San Juan by 19 points to get to the regional championship last week and will now rely on their experience at state two years to try to get over the hump.
“We got a chance to get a taste of it (two years ago),” Asumnu said. “It was a good experience for us. I know the kids are looking forward to going back again.”
IDEA Mission (20-14) will play San Antonio KIPP Academy at 2 p.m. Saturday at Hays High School in Buda. The winner will advance to play for the championship later that evening.
CHASING HISTORY
Having already clinched a playoff berth, Donna High (20-9, 10-0) has its sights set on breaking a couple other barriers.
With four games remaining in the regular season, the Redskins are very much in contention to secure their first district title in more than four decades and their first undefeated district mark in program history, according to coach Zeke Rodriguez.
“It means a lot because of the hard work — not just myself but the coaching staff,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve worked really hard and the kids have, too, especially this group. A lot of people thought we weren’t going to be really good (after graduating standouts George Garcia and Anthony Gonzalez), but I knew what we had coming back. … We’ve done it together and we’re just trying to stay humble and stay hungry, and that’s the model the kids are following.”
Donna closes out district against two teams (Brownsville Pace, Edcouch-Elsa) expected to make the playoffs and two others (Donna North, PSJA Southwest) that have struggled for most of this season.