BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | THE MONITOR
LA JOYA — With less than 30 seconds left in overtime, senior guard Dustin Rodriguez hit a jumper to reclaim the lead for Edcouch-Elsa.
The Yellow Jackets’ one-point lead would be enough, as they won in overtime 66-65 over the La Joya High Coyotes on Tuesday at La Joya High School.
“This win feels very good,” Edcouch-Elsa coach Lalo Rios said. “It was a good game. La Joya gave us everything that we could handle, and I’m just proud of the guys for finding a way to pull it out.”
Rodriguez hit the game-winner, but it didn’t feel like it at the time.
“I was just thinking about getting back on defense,” Rodriguez said. “I just wanted to get another stop and keep scoring.”
After the basket, Edcouch-Elsa scrambled on defense. With about 12 second to go, La Joya senior guard OJay Saenz had the ball in the left corner. Saenz was surrounded by defenders, but he got free and took a shot. Just before the shot fell, the timeout call came in from the La Joya bench, and the basket didn’t count.
La Joya then had the ball on an inbounds play from the baseline with 11.2 left in overtime. The ball was passed into a good spot for senior forward Alex Villarreal, but Rodriguez saw what was coming.
“I saw that he was going to throw the ball over toward me,” Rodriguez said. “I just played it and got the steal. Then, I held the ball so we could call timeout.”
After the steal, La Joya got the stop it needed, but couldn’t get an open look to steal the game. Saenz missed a mid-range jumper from the baseline as time expired.
Rodriguez finished the game with 11 points.
“He’s the heart and soul of our team,” Rios said. “He plays with a lot of passion and a lot of energy. He’s one of the few guys that we have back from last year that had any experience at the varsity level. Tonight was an example of him doing good things for us.”
For much of the overtime period, only Rodriguez and senior guard Joseph Gonzalez were asked to handle the ball. Gonzalez added six points and six rebounds.
“He’s tough,” Rios said of Gonzalez. “He’s one of our leaders and one of our captains. We call on him and Dustin to take care of the ball in crucial situations, because they are the ones that have varsity experience. Joseph did a great job for us tonight. He hit some big shots. He wasn’t hitting from the outside, but he started attacking the basket and getting guys open. That’s what we need from him.”
La Joya looked poised to run away with the game early. The Coyotes jumped out to a 7-2 lead thanks to the hot shooting of Villarreal, who had the Coyotes’ first four points. Meanwhile, E-E got a little trigger happy and started spotting up from deep despite contests from the defense.
“I told them, ‘It’s a 32-minute game, and games are never won in the first half,’” Rios said. “We just told them to stay levelheaded, stay hungry and stay under control. Chip away, slowly but surely, and once we were able to do that, we got some confidence, and then we were able to get a big lead.”
La Joya led comfortably for much of the first quarter, but junior forward Marcos Escobar helped E-E erase the deficit. Escobar got an offensive rebound in traffic and delivered a perfect pass to AJ Garza, who knocked down a corner 3 to bring E-E within one point. The teams traded baskets for the remainder of the quarter, but E-E didn’t take its first lead until midway through the second quarter. Gonzalez drove the lane and was fouled on a shot. Gonzalez sank the jumper and hit the ensuing free throw to give E-E a 24-21 lead with 4:57 left in the first half.
“Coach told me my role is not to be one-dimensional,” Gonzalez said. “I have to do whatever it takes to help the team.”
On the first play of the second half, La Joya senior guard Alexis Tovar went down with an apparent leg injury after stepping on the ball awkwardly. Tovar did not return.
“It changed the momentum a lot,” Gonzalez said. “Coach told us right there to start going into the paint and driving.”
Tovar’s absence, combined with E-E’s confidence, allowed the Yellow Jackets to grow their lead. Senior forward Phillip Rendon knocked down a 3-pointer with two minutes remaining in the third quarter to give the Yellow Jackets their largest lead of the game at 49-39.
The combination of Villarreal and junior guard Carlos Montelongo kept the Coyotes in the game and allowed the team to catch back up. Villarreal finished with 12 points, and Montelongo had 16.
E-E’s leading scorer was senior forward Marin Rodriguez, who had 17.
With Rios in his first year at E-E and several new faces on the varsity roster, non-district matchups hold a special significance for the Yellow Jackets.
“These games are big for our chemistry,” Gonzalez said. “Chemistry is big. We have to build it up. We played a lot in the summer, but now is the time where teams are hot. We have to be hot, too, and carry the chemistry into district.”