By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Early on, there wasn’t much difference between Mission Veterans and Brownsville Pace. Both teams were woeful from the field, especially from deep, and neither was able to get into much of an offensive groove.
But the Patriots made the appropriate adjustments — attacking the basket with more frequency, drawing contact — and they clamped down defensively to cruise to a 65-32 bi-district win.
Mission Veterans (28-7) outscored Pace 16-2 during the second period to take a 25-7 lead into halftime, setting up an area-round match against Nixon.
The second and third quarters helped make up for what was a slow start — a 9-5 Mission Vets edge after Leo Salazar’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer. The Patriots got to the foul line more, particularly before halftime, draining six of nine from the strike while Pace came up empty on both of its attempts.
“I guess we were nervous (to start the game),” Mission Vets’ Orly Villalobos said. “But once we got over it, we started hitting our shots.”
Even as Pace caught fire during the third quarter, putting up 13 points (more than it did through one half of play), the Patriots countered with 22 points, with five players chipping in, including Villalobos, who scored seven of his team-high-tying 12 points.
“They sat back in the zone and we knew if we moved the ball away, we were going to get looks,” Mission Vets coach Romeo De La Garza said. “We just did a great job of attacking and finding easy opportunities. And I told the guys, we can’t get frustrated. Shots aren’t always going to fall. If we do what we’re supposed to do defensively, then we’ll get some easy baskets off or our defense, and I thought we did a great job of that.”
The Patriots needed every stop, especially after going 1-for-9 from behind the arc through the opening half. The Vikings (19-13) weren’t much better, attempting 12 and converting only one.
But players like Adam Solis (11 points) helped by crashing the glass and giving the Patriots second and third chances. Matthew Guajardo (12 points) came up big, as well, scoring 10 points between the second and third quarters — the most critical juncture in Mission Vets’ win on Tuesday.
“It comes down to understanding their personnel and what they wanted to do,” De La Garza said. “I think we made them work on every possession and every shot they took in the first half — even in the first quarter, it was all contested.”
Pace was led in scoring by Angel Muñoz, who netted seven points. Mike Cuellar added five.
“We just didn’t hit our buckets,” Vikings coach Jose Luis Ramirez said. “We’ve been counting on those buckets. We’ve been counting on free throws. It’s just one of those nights. But I’m proud of my boys. We’ll be back.”