By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — McAllen Memorial entered the locker room at halftime trying to comprehend what had happened the first 16 minutes.
Shots weren’t falling. Defensive assignments were missed. And though the Mustangs boasted three frontcourt players 6-foot-5 or taller, they trailed Edinburg North at the break.
“We were shocked,” senior D.J. Johnson said. “We’ve never been down at halftime this season.”
So while they had every inclination to scrap their gameplan, they did the opposite. They stuck to their man-to-man defense, but agreed to take fewer gambles, and it resulted in a 59-48 come-from-behind win Friday in the Class 6A area round.
“We just said we had to keep playing our game, and that’s what we did in the second half,” Johnson said.
Johnson delivered a team-high 21 points to go with three dunks, including two in the second half that seemed to fuel the Mustangs’ momentum.
They outscored Edinburg North 33-16 after the break, including a 12-3 run in the third quarter.
“They just picked up the intensity, and we weren’t able to score,” Cougars coach Rudy Garcia said. “The guys have done well all season when they got pressed. Tonight, I don’t know. Maybe a little bit of their height and quickness made it a little difficult for us.”
Though Jonathan Sanchez scored only two points, he was effective on the glass. The 6-foot-7, 215-pound senior gave the Cougars (26-10) fits all night, and the Mustangs’ defense as a whole did a better job of pestering players.
They swarmed Kobe Patterson, one of the Valley’s leading scorers, in the second half. Patterson finished with a game-high 21 points, but only eight came after the break. After draining three 3-pointers in the opening half, Patterson finished with only one field goal the rest of the way.
“A good player’s going to get his points, but we were going to try to limit his points,” Memorial coach Sam Cortez said. “Josh (Sanchez) was on him all night. Like I said, we were going to have to work hard to deny him. We wanted to make things uncomfortable for him.”
Brandon De La Cruz, who finished with 12 points, was the only other Edinburg North player to finish in double digits.
The Mustangs, on the other hand, had more balanced scoring. Dorian Perez added 16 points, Joe Gamino had 12 and Josh Sanchez added 8.
It came on night in which the Cougars led 32-26 at halftime, before Johnson found his groove in the second half. That’s when he delivered two of this three dunks — a one-handed jam streaking up the middle, and an alley-oop on a half-court set.
“The dunks, yeah, they’re a part of the game,” Johnson said. “But they pumped me up, and they pumped my teammates up, as well.”
The Mustangs (27-6), ranked No. 2 in the RGVSports.com poll, advances to take on Laredo United in the regional quarterfinals.
Laredo United beat Brownsville Veterans to set up the third-round matchup against the District 30-6A champions.
“It was a tough win,” Johnson said. “Edinburg North is a really good team. You’ve got to hand it to them. But we’re not done yet.”