By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
With more than one week off from game action, the Porter Cowboys had time to get back to the fundamentals.
“(The break gave) us time to adjust our offensive approach and correct some of our defensive rotation,” coach Luis Garza said. “More than anything (we could) try and fix our horrific shooting woes.”
The Cowboys have worked on fixing those things through shooting drills, watching game tape and getting “out of the fire” in order to prepare for getting back in it.
“This layoff was good for that,” Garza said. “But we still have tough games coming up.”
Porter ended its break with a 61-33 loss to Weslaco High on Tuesday and has other non-district contests scheduled against San Benito. Laredo United South and Brownsville Veterans Memorial. All are Class 6A programs.
Garza said playing tough teams is a good “reality check” for his team and will make Porter stronger going forward into district.
“It’s like everything else,” he said. “We need to expose our deficiencies in order to know what to fix.”
BENCH COMING THROUGH: Pace’s starting five draw a lot of attention, but coachJose Luis Ramirez says the second team has played strong this season. It comes from his team’s talent and self-belief.
“It used to be that you’d have your first strong group, but with your second group maybe one or two of those cats can help you out,” Ramirez said. “Right now, sometimes our second group beats our first team in scrimmages. That third group can hold its own. So when one person goes down, I can bring somebody off the bench and we don’t lose that intensity. We don’t lose that potency on offense.”
So if the Vikings find themselves in foul trouble early, someone is available to step up. Ramirez says that Pace’s veteran group can help whoever comes off the bench adjust to game tempo.
“If one gets into foul trouble and we have to bring somebody off the bench, the other four support that one,” he said. “It’s definitely comforting to me as a coach that they know what to do in those situations.”
TOURNAMENT SUCCESS: Rivera basketball showed signs of improvement last weekend with a trip to the Craig Smith Tournament consolation final, where the Raiders lost to McAllen Memorial 65-54.
The Raiders reeled off three straight wins against PSJA Southwest (68-59), Mission High (46-43) and Laredo Cigarroa (53-42) before facing McAllen Memorial with the consolation championship at stake.
“We played great,” coach Saul Villarreal said “We had consistent team chemistry. The team showed progress and improvement on both sides of the court.”
All five of the Raiders’ wins have come in tournament play this season.
“As a young team they want to show they can compete at the varsity level, and in tournaments we see great competition that will help us prepare for district,” Villarreal said.
Rivera lost its tournament opener against McAllen Memorial, 62-55.
Joshua McKinney covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter, he’s @joshuabvherald.