BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | THE MONITOR
McALLEN — What was set up to be a dogfight for playoff position between McAllen High (16-13, 6-3) and La Joya Juarez-Lincoln (20-10, 5-4) and a matchup of two of the better big men in the Rio Grande Valley took a turn for the worse early on.
With 2:32 left in the first quarter, Juarez-Lincoln senior center Luis Garza caught the ball in the high post and drove the lane. Garza took a hard spill after being fouled and stayed down with an apparent ankle injury. Garza could not put weight on his leg and had to be helped off the court.
Garza leads the Huskies with 16.9 points and 12.3 rebounds per game.
After the game, Huskies coach Albert Carillo said he wasn’t sure of the severity of the injury, but that further tests would be done today.
“That was a big loss for them,” McAllen High coach Ryan Flores said. “When he went down, that changed the whole aspect of the game. But give credit to Juarez-Lincoln, they still played hard, they still hustled, and they gave us a good game. You never want to see a great player like him, being a senior, go down in a contest like this when we are battling for playoff position.”
McAllen High rolled after the injury and came away with the 76-61 win on Friday night at McAllen High School.
“This win felt good,” senior forward DeShaun Primus said. “It’s what we came here to do. We protected our house. … I wish we could have gotten our bench in at the end to contribute to the win.”
With Garza out and the Huskies’ paint unprotected, the Bulldogs went to work. From the time Garza left the game until halftime, McHi junior forward Jaden Conrow scored 10 points, most of which came in the paint. Conrow finished with a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds.
“Jaden is one of our better players,” Flores said. “He’s so athletic. He’s an inside-outside guy. He can do it all from the 3-point line, from the block, from the elbow. And, most importantly, the kid is still willing to learn.”
Primus also had a big game for the Bulldogs, posting 17 points and seven rebounds.
“I took advantage of the looks that I was given, and I think I executed them pretty well,” Primus said. “But, my teammates got me open also.”
Flores knows his team is talented, but he is hoping it can take the next step.
“I have a whole team that can handle the ball and can shoot the ball,” Flores said. “I want to play smart for all four quarters, every possession. Going back to earlier this week, we played McAllen Memorial. We had some mental breakdowns on a couple possessions, both offensively and defensively, that cost us that game. … I’m trying to tell the guys and keep them confident that we are one of the best teams in our district. Even though we may be in the third spot, I still think we can compete with and should have beaten some of the teams that are ahead of us. What I want to see is us playing a lot smarter, taking care of that basketball, and playing more team offense and defense.”
McHi showed flashes of that team mentality in the opening moments of the game. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 14-4 lead with four different players scoring in the first 5:20.
Once Garza went down, McHi really started clicking. In the closing moments of the third quarter, the Bulldogs built a 21-point lead.
Huskies senior forward Lalo Torres finished with a team-high 18 points, many of which came late in the game to keep the Huskies in it. Torres was very effective driving to his left, and his driving created enough room for him to step back and drop a few jumpers, as well.
“(Torres) has been playing great as of late,” Carillo said. “He’s been scoring double figures the past four games.”
The Huskies got the score to within 10 late in the fourth, but the Bulldogs’ Primus and junior guard Bryan Argil each hit some big shots down the stretch to put the game out of reach.
“I think we let up a little bit once we saw we had a lead,” Primus said. “We kind of got comfortable, but coach kept telling us not to get comfortable with the lead and keep fighting.”
McHi faces McAllen Rowe on Tuesday.
“That is going to be a big game for us,” Flores said. “They are undefeated in the district. We are fighting for playoff positions right now. I think we are sitting in third, Memorial is in second and Rowe is first. But if you want to move back up to the second spot, we have to have a good game against Nikki Rowe.”