BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
ELSA — While most teams in the Valley were taking part in tournaments across the region, some of the best basketball was played in a non-district game Friday night.
The Edcouch-Elsa Yellow Jackets and the Edinburg High Bobcats went toe-to-toe in a thriller, with the Yellow Jackets pulling off a late rally for the win, 59-57.
The Bobcats led from the 2:58 mark of the fourth quarter, but the margin was slim. With 48 seconds left on the clock, EE senior Bryan Guerra connected on a layup to cut the lead to one point.
Then, the Yellow Jackets swarmed to the ball, buzzing around and looking for steals. The defensive pressure was too much for the Bobcats, and an errant passes trailed out of bounds.
With 17.4 on the clock, the Yellow Jackets put the ball in the hands of senior Marcos Escobar.
“The coaches just told me to attack the rim, if I had the layup take it,” Escobar said. “I saw (EHS senior) Antoine (Woodard) come over and try to get that block. Then, I saw (EE junior) Aaron (Aguinaga) cutting, and I gave him the ball.”
Escobar’s unselfish play resulted in an Aguinaga layup at the rim, giving EE its first lead since the 4:36 mark of the fourth quarter.
“That basket was super exciting,” Escobar said. “It got the team fired up, it got the crowd fired up. It was amazing.”
The Bobcats ran a play with roughly ten seconds left.
“We told Aaron, he had to deny Antoine,” EE coach Lalo Rios said. “Because, I think Antoine might have scored every point in that fourth quarter. And so we told (Aguinaga), ‘if (Woodard) gets it, he is probably going to score. We haven’t stopped him yet.’ We said, ‘we have to have anyone else but Antoine try to beat us.’”
Woodard scored 13 of EHS’ 16 fourth-quarter points.
Aguinaga has been grinding all summer – in the lab as he described it – to get ready for this year. He has seen his minutes increase, and also the amount of responsibility.
“Every game, they always put me on the best player, because they know I hustle the most. and I try to play best defense on them,” Aguinaga said.
So, when the moment called for his defense, Aguinaga was ready.
“I saw that they were going to screen for (Woodard on the final play), but I went over the screen,” Aguinaga said. “I locked him up, and didn’t let him get that ball.”
Instead, it was Edinburg High junior Jorge Hernnadez who took a tough shot from the free throw line, which missed.
Rios’ late sub to bring in senior Nico Ybarra paid off, as Ybarra’s fresh legs allowed him to rise up and grab the game-sealing rebound.Woodard’s work ethic shined in the final moment as he was the one contesting Ybarra for the rebound.
“Edinburg always travels well,” Rios said. “They are a very good team, and we have been having some success early on. We knew our crowd was going to be out here tonight, supporting us. We expected a dogfight, and we got a dogfight. Luckily for us, we got the win.”
Edcouch-Elsa beat Edinburg High on Friday night in front of the Yellow Jackets’ raucous fans.
“The crowd was awesome,” Escobar said. “We fed off of their energy. They also helped us get this win tonight.”
Aguinaga has become accustomed to guarding the other team’s best player, but Woodard was on another level Friday night. He finished with 32 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks. Woodard displayed range from three, and a tenacity when finishing at the rim.
Aguinaga held his own, though, with 19 points, five rebounds and of course, the game-winner.
“What a tough matchup, two very athletic, very gifted basketball players,” Rios said. “It was fun to watch, but it was very stressful at the same time. We tried telling Aaron, to keep it about the team and not about them. For the most part, he did a good job. When we needed him, he was able to get us some points.”
Escobar had 16 for the Yellow Jackets and Ybarra and Guerra added six and five, respectively. The Bobcats’ seniors point guard Marc Figueroa was the second-leading scorer with nine, while Hernandez added seven.
Like Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant, Aguinaga and Woodard battled each other all night. One sequence had Aguinaga on a fastbreak, only for Woodard to chase him down and pin his layup to the glass. Woodard was then given a fastbreak of his own, but Aguinaga’s defense also forced a miss.
At the half, each had 11 points, and Woodard had four rebounds, while Aguniaga had three.
The Bobcats began the game with a barrage of 3-pointers, and jumped out to 18-9 lead in the first quarter. The Yellow Jackets were finally able to stem the tide, and by the end of the first quarter the EHS lead was down to just one point.
With the Yellow Jackets jelling extremely well, playing cohesively, and with a giant crop of younger guys getting valuable experience, the future is bright for EE, for this year and beyond.
“We are very impressed with these guys,” Rios said. “We lost 12 guys from last year’s team, and we only have three left that have varsity experience. To be 12-6 speaks volumes of their commitment, their effort and their work ethic. We are very proud of them, but we also know that we are just scratching the surface with them. We are hoping that come district time, we are a lot better than where we are right now.”