By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
PHARR — With two seconds left and his team down 1, Weslaco East’s Jonathan Muñoz spun around a PSJA North defender, threw up a shot and hoped for the best.
Up that point, PSJA North had done a formidable job contesting Weslaco East’s 3-point attempts. But with defenders rushing toward him and time expiring, Muñoz was in no position to be selective. So as he faded to his left 5 feet behind the arc, the junior guard launched a 3 that bounced off the glass and in as the Wildcats came away with a 52-50 win on the road.
“It just felt perfect coming off my hands,” Muñoz said, smiling. “I still can’t believe it went in.”
The initial plan was for Muñoz to get the ball back from an inbounds pass, come off a screen from Felix Jimenez and go up the middle. But with 3.8 seconds remaining, Weslaco East (17-6, 2-0) found itself in a bind trying to return the ball to Muñoz, who escaped one defender and nearly ran into another as he got his shot off.
“He hits big shots, when we practice and in games,” Weslaco East coach Jorge Martinez said. “He’s our point guard, and I trust him.
“I think they were concentrating on Jesus (Ortiz on the final play) because he was having a good game tonight. I put the ball in my point guard’s hands, and he delivered tonight.”
Muñoz final bucket capped a 13-point effort, including three 3s in the fourth quarter, and Ortiz added a game-high 18. It was enough to help stave off a pesky attack by PSJA North (14-9, 2-1), ranked No. 10 in the latest RGVSports.com top 10 poll.
Despite milking 50 seconds off the clock, PSJA North was able to erase the final points off a 7-point deficit, as Anthony Chavez stole the ball and took it the length of the court for a layup and 50-49 lead with 28.7 seconds remaining.
From there, Weslaco East, ranked No. 8 in the poll, was intentionally fouled twice, including the last one with 3.8 seconds left, giving the Wildcats little time to set up a last shot.
“It’s just one of those things where the shot went in,” PSJA North coach Jaime Gongora said. “The chances of that shot going in are statistically not very good, but it did for them tonight, and that’s part of the ball game.”
“It’s a very tough district,” he added. “There’s a lot of basketball to be played. I’m just glad we have an open day Tuesday, because it’s going to be hard to get over this.”
The win helped offset efforts from PSJA North’s Daunte Galvan, who had a team-high 17 points, and Chavez, who finished with 15. Weslaco East had three double digits scorers, for its part, with Ortiz, Muñoz and Jimenez (10 points).
“It was a toss-up with who deserved to win, to be honest with you,” Martinez said. “Both teams played similar, with a lot of heart, getting after it. I’m just happy that we were able to win here at North. It’s so hard to win here.”