MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
High school basketball and the holidays usually mean it’s tournament time.
For the small town of San Perlita, it marks one of the biggest times of the annual sports season as it kicks off the 10th annual Letterman’s Club tournament this morning at San Perlita High School.
“This is really the focal point during this time because we are the entertainment,” San Perlita girls basketball coach Marco Munguia said. “Basketball is the big show here in San Perlita. It brings in pretty much the whole community and people from our surrounding communities as well.”
When the first tournament tipped off in 2010, one year after the new San Perlita gymnasium was opened, the field was comprised of just five teams for both the boys and girls and was played round-robin style.
Today’s tournament is slated to have 12 teams in each division separated into four pools, three different championship brackets and features 48 games across three days, culminating with the championship games Saturday.
“Over the last couple of years, our tournament has really grown,” San Perlita boys basketball coach Nataniel Garza said. “It means a lot to our community. Our members here take a lot of passion from our tournament. There’s just a lot of pride in this small town. We have a lot of help that makes this tournament run.
“Everybody is willing to help, and everybody wants to help. It really brings the community together, and they’re not only here for our kids, they’re here to see basketball.”
On the boys side, Pool A is comprised of hosting San Perlita, Edinburg IDEA Quest and Macedonia, and Pool B features Bishop, Monte Alto and Roma. Pool C will include Lasara, UIL newcomers Brownsville Jubilee and Weslaco IDEA, and Pool D is occupied by Valley View, Brownsville IDEA Frontier and defending champion Port Isabel.
Garza said his young Trojans, who are fresh off a 76-62 loss Tuesday night at PSJA Memorial, will benefit from a challenging field.
“I think it’s good that we get games early in the season,” he said. “We had a game (Tuesday), and our youth really showed. I think for us, it’s good to get an early tournament going in the season so we can kind of get the experience early on, and hopefully it’ll pay off when we get to district time. We’re not only getting games, but playing some really tough teams as well. It’s a very tough field, and it’s always great competition.
For the girls, joining San Perlita in Pool A are Premont and IDEA Quest, and Pool B will feature La Villa, Raymondville and Riviera. In Pool C are Donna IDEA, Grulla and Lasara, and IDEA Frontier, San Isidro and Weslaco IDEA will occupy Pool D. Roma, which won the girls Gold Bracket last season, opted out of this year’s tournament.
Still, the field, like the boys side, is tough and will be a big challenge for a Lady Trojans team that has had very little practice time at full strength to start the season.
“From my team, I’m just looking for growth from last week to this week,” Munguia said. “Our girls made that long playoff run, going three rounds deep in volleyball. As a result, we’ve only got in maybe one full week of complete basketball practice. We went over to La Feria on Saturday and lost by eight, 50-42. I was pleased with our performance, but we just had 2 1/2 days of practice. So my biggest thing is going to be growth from last week to this week for my girls.”
The tournament will kickoff at 9 a.m. with a pair of Metro-area boys teams in Port Isabel and IDEA Frontier squaring off in Gym 1, and Macedonia takes on IDEA Quest in Gym 2.
Girls games begin at 10:15 a.m. in Gym 1 when La Villa takes on Raymondville.