BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
PHARR — On paper, the PSJA North Raiders look like the Valley’s Golden State Warriors.
A lot of that is just on paper for now, though.
“It is an exciting time for PSJA North and it is an exciting time for (football) coach (Marcus) Kaufmann,” PSJA North basketball coach Jaime Gongora said. “It is exciting to see all of our basketball kids supporting the process that is going on at our school. Coach Kaufmann has transformed this school. We are really excited for him.”
The Raiders’ football team has charged through a new district to capture a playoff spot and win their first-round matchup. PSJA North will face San Benito in the area round at 2 p.m. Friday at PSJA Stadium in Pharr.
In the meantime, the basketball team is without a few key pieces.
“(Senior) Iziaah (Rangel) is one of the premier players in our area,” Gongora said.
Along with the quarterback Rangel, the basketball team should also welcome in senior Arturo Beltran, senior Israel Olivarez and freshman Isaac Gonzalez after the football team wraps up its season.
With Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green off hurdling linebackers, the proverbial Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry of the Raiders, senior Daunte Galvan and sophomore Elijah de la Garza had to lead the team through the first two games of the year.
De Le Garza had 39 and Galvan had 31 as the Raiders smoked a tough Brownsville Pace team, 81-51 on Tuesday at PSJA North High School.
“I think we played very well today,” Gongora said. “I thought we played with more intensity than we did in the first game.”
Things didn’t start out perfect, as North missed a few shots that the Raiders usually hit, and Pace’s tough defense allowed them to force a few turnovers. Pace led 9-3 six minutes in.
Then came the rain. De La Garza stepped into one on the right wing, 9-6. He pulled up off the dribble, 11-9 Pace. Then a Galvan three made it 12-11, North’s first lead. Galvan picked up back-to-back layups to close out the quarter with North up 16-11. Just that fast, the game was effectively over. Pace never got close again, and the Raiders got hot from the perimeter.
“We knew we just needed to move the ball a lot more,” Galvan said. “(We needed to) get our teammates open, get the bigs involved. We worked from the inside out.”
Several times Galvan would kick it inside to senior forward Rick Garcia, who would hold, then turn and find de la Garza streaking to the open spot off of a screen. The beauty of North’s team is if opponents pick up on that, they just switch the action so Galvan gets the screen.
Senior Emilio Padron led the Vikings with 9 points. Senior Jose Luis Lozoya added 8. Pace utilized a zone defense that was tough for North to crack early. Pace coach Jose Ramirez used a deep bench early and often. Several times he went with a full line swap, five in and five out.
Even with North’s dynamic backcourt, the chemistry won’t happen overnight.
“It’s getting there,” Galvan said. “We just have to play more games, communicate and talk a little bit more.”
Adding in a new starting frontcourt will not be easy either. But, Gongora plans for that. North has only played two games so far this season.
“I did that for a reason,” Gongora said. “I had a feeling that football was going to have a good team. So, I wanted to play the least amount of games that I could without some key players. I just hope we keep playing without them, because that means the football team is winning.”