BY MARK MOLINA | STAFF WRITER
Don’t look now, but the Pace Vikings are a spotless 9-0 in District 32-5A play and have become one of the Rio Grande Valley’s top teams through a model of consistency.
The Vikings have won games by lighting it up from beyond the arc, grinding out defensive wins and everything in between.
They appear to possess the tools to do it all.
“(The team) has a lot of talent,” Vikings head coach Jose Luis Ramirez said. “They hate losing more than they love winning and that’s a fire in and of itself. The most wonderful thing that I’ve seen this year is how unselfish they are.
“There isn’t one guy that you’re going to stop and stop Pace. There are so many other guys that can contribute.”
While Ramirez’s description paints a picture of wily varsity veterans that have played together for some time, that isn’t the case.
In fact, when it comes to playing varsity ball, most of the Vikings are like the jerseys they don twice a week: Green.
Pace entered the season with just five returning letterman.
Seniors Julio Ortega and Randy Aguilar were starters last season, while seniors Hiram Flores, Misael Monsivais and junior Baltazar Hinojosa contributed off the bench.
Monsivais was a starter for four games a season ago before an injury sidelined him, so his varsity experience is limited.
Aside from that, half of the players lacked varsity experience and as expected, the season began with some small bumps, but the younger players tried to contribute and grow.
“I didn’t really know (what to expect), but I just wanted to help out as much as I can when I go in,” said junior first-year varsity player Jose Luis Lozoya. “I don’t have much varsity experience. It’s gotten better over the past few months. I’ve developed as a younger player and I’m learning to play at this level.”
But while it took some time, the new faces felt lacking varsity experience was simply a temporary setback and success would come eventually.
For Ramirez, it came Dec. 1 in a 72-67 loss to the Los Fresnos Falcons, who needed a late run to hold off the Vikings.
“We have a really tough schedule with Weslaco, Los Fresnos and Harlingen and I knew we were battle-tested, and when you face those teams you tell your team that they’re as good as they are,” Ramirez said. “Against Los Fresnos we knew they were No. 1 in the Valley for a reason and we wanted that challenge. Our expectation was to give them a game, hustle and let the score be what it is. When we were able to stay head-to-head, I realized we have something special.”
That was the first of three matchups this season between the two.
After falling 61-49 to them on Dec. 8 at the Hidalgo Pirate Classic, the Vikings rebounded eight days later and came up with a 79-72 win at the McAllen City of Palms Tournament, a victory which now had even the new faces believing they had found the rhythm.
“We beat Los Fresnos, which is the No. 1 team in the valley, and that boosted our confidence.” said AJ Anzaldua. “We knew we had to find that chemistry because we knew we had a great team It took us a while, but the preseason and tournaments helped a lot and we started to go from there.”
As much help as extra games and big moments provided a spark, the experience that Ortega and Aguilar brought to the table helped keep the team leveled and on course.
It was easy for the senior duo to do since they were in a similar position during Pace’s district title run just two seasons ago.
“We were young back then and we learned a lot, just like they’re young and are learning a lot from us,” said Ortega, who leads the Vikings in scoring with 15.8 per game. “They’re learning to play the game at a fast pace, good ball movement, good shooting and how to play good defense just like we did. That’s why we’re here, because of the skills that we got.”
Aguilar said instilling a confidence to keep shooting has been the biggest lesson they have been able to teach the new class of players.
“What we go by is ‘Keep shooting,’” he said. “With younger guys, they need confidence because when Julio and I were sophomores, they told us to keep shooting and not put our head down. That’s what we tell them and their confidence is better now than earlier in the season.”
The Vikings haven’t been shy, averaging 64 points per game while holding opponents to just 40 during their nine-game district winning streak in which production is coming from all players.
Pace is shooting 49 percent as a team on offense and has been aggressive on defense, having racked up 197 steals and 49 blocks.
Ortega and Alaniz lead the team in scoring with 15.6 and 9.2 points per game, respectively, but newcomers like Anzaldua and senior transfer turned starter Vicente Garcia have become two of the team’s biggest contributors in their first seasons.
Garcia is third on the team in scoring with 8.4 ppg and has become a go-to player in the post.
Meanwhile, Anzaldua has proven to be reliable from beyond the arc, averaging 8.1 ppg while shooting 39 percent on 3-point attempts, which is tied for second on the team along with Flores and behind Ortega (40 percent).
While the young Vikings are expected to bring home the district crown and hopefully make a deep playoff run, Ramirez said those are the expectations every year and the reason this year’s bunch has bought in.
“Basically, we sell them that we’re the team to beat every year so they can put in the work during the summer,” Ramirez said. “We have those expectations so that they can work hard. We want them to have those expectations going into summer so they know that next year, we’re going to be great.”