By MARK MOLINA | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
For the first two and a half quarters, the Porter Cowboys went step-for-step with the Pace Vikings on the offensive and defensive side of the ball, but in the end, four minutes made all the difference.
Fueled by forced turnovers, the Vikings offense mounted a 15-5 run in the final four minutes of the third quarter and never looked back as they dismissed the Cowboys 62-55 for a District 32-5A win Friday night at Porter High School.
In a tie game midway through the fourth, a pair of buckets underneath from Pace center Vicente Garza and a three-point play from guard Julio Ortega gave their team seven straight points to help spark the run.
On the night, Vikings’ defense picked up 15 steals, leading to the easy hoops in transition.
“Eventually, we got to move in the right direction,” Pace head coach Jose Luis Ramirez said. “We played like that (on defense) all game long and hoped that eventually they would turn (Porter) over and that’s what we did. We forced a lot of turnovers and forced easy buckets.”
Pace pushed its district record to 7-0 with the win. Meanwhile, Porter falls to 4-3, but despite the loss, head coach Luis Garza said his team played as good as they have all season.
“We’re right there with them, but we made some mistakes in the press,” Garza said. “I’m real proud of our kids. Every year we play, it goes to the wire. Pace kept their composure and they took care of business.
“I think we played our best game, even though we didn’t win…if we keep playing this way, I think we’re the second best team in the district.”
Pace won Friday without the power of the three-point shot, knocking in just two on the night, but scored 54 points in the paint.
Leading the charge was Pace guard Julio Ortega, who drove to the hoop early and often for 23 points with eight assists and six steals.
Pace’s bigs had a solid night underneath as Randy Aguilar and Vicente Garcia scored 12 and eight points, respectively.
Aguilar said while the Vikings weren’t as sharp as they are from beyond the arc, they have no reservations on playing inside out.
“We’ve done it in practice, so we’re comfortable playing like that,” he said. “Our point guard Julio (Ortega), is able to give us options to drive in and score in the paint, too. We him open lanes and if he has it, take it. If not, kick out and try it all over again.”
Early on Porter tried to get Benji Eckersley going early, feeding him the ball as he overpowered the Pace defense for six quick points and 13 in the first half.
After ending the first tied at 16, Pace took its first lead early in the second quarter on a layup by Ortega, who scored 12 of his 23 before the break.
The Vikings led 29-26 at the half.
Defense tightened up in the third as the two squads combined for six total points in the first three minutes of the third, but Andres Fragoso tied the game at 31 with 4:55 remaining in the third.
Two straight buckets by Garza and Ortega’s and-1 gave Pace a 38-31 lead. Garcia ended the run with a Porter bucket but two Aguilar layups and a trey from Jose Luis Lozoya ballooned Pace’s lead to 12.
The Cowboys trailed by 13 twice in the third, but made interesting late in the game with an 11-2 run of their own, highlighted by back-to-back 3s from Fragoso.
Raymond Zuniga made it 58-54 with 1:08 to play, but Pace put the game away with a pair of free throws and a basket down the stretch.
Eckersley finished with 22 for the Cowboys and Fragoso added 17.