By STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer
Coaches across the world of sports often insist that there are no moral victories.
Except of course, when there are, as was the case in Pace’s 68-49 home loss to PSJA North Wednesday afternoon.
The Vikings were within four points at the end of the first quarter, fell behind by eight at the half, and were outscored 19-5 in a decisive third quarter. But Pace rallied to edge the raiders 21-17 in the fourth quarter, and played with a noticeably different level of intensity in the final period.
“There are no moral victories,” Pace coach Jose Luis Ramirez said. “But we’ve got to take that.”
The Vikings scored the game’s first basket, but trailed the rest of the way. Cristian Guajardo (11 points) knocked down a corner three with 2:52 to play in the first quarter put to an end to an 8-2 PSJA North run.
“We were outmatched today,” Ramirez said. “Other kids needed to step up and we just didn’t do it as a team. We will get there.”
Pace’s troubles came when they couldn’t adjust quickly enough to the Raiders’ strategy of double-teaming Guajardo, though there were times when the sophomore point guard’s playmaking ability and the Vikings’ unselfish ball movement made PSJA North pay.
Marcos Cuevas buried a three pointer from the right elbow to draw within four points late in the first quarter. after Guajardo worked out of a double team and made a cross-court pass to Elias Fortaneli, who swung the ball around to an open Cuevas for the jumper.
The Raiders were led by Iziaah Rangel (20 points), who was the tallest player on the floor for most of the game. His length and athleticism helped give the visitors an edge, best exhibited by his steal of an inbounds pass along the Pace baseline that resulted in an easy layup and a 19-12 PSJA North lead with 7:12 to play in the second quarter.
Guajardo kept battling to find himself and his teammates open looks, hitting a contested jumper over Juan Gonzalez that made it 19-16 with 5:45 to go on the second quarter.
The Vikings’ Alexander Agado helped keep Pace within striking distance when he drilled a three-pointer that brought the Raiders’ lead to 25-21.
But Rangel one-upped the competition again when he launched a three from the top of the key at the buzzer that gave PSJA North a 32-23 advantage at the half. He and the Raiders kept rolling into the second half, as nine of his points came during the third period. PSJA North locked down the Vikings and coasted into the fourth quarter with a 51-28 lead.
The third quarter served as a wake-up call for Ramirez and his team.
“Our mentality is we’re down, we have urgency to get the ball and be tough,” Ramirez said. “I told them ‘don’t worry about the score, your attitude should affect the score. So let’s get after it and let’s play hard each play.’ And I think we did that.”
In the fourth quarter, Pace’s aggressive defense forced a few turnovers that led directly to easy buckets, and eight different Vikings chipped in on the scoresheet in the game’s final period.
Esequiel Hernandez and Elias Fortaneli combined for nine points in the fourth quarter for Pace.
Ramirez said it was important for his players to reacclimate to the hardwood and to be exposed right away to high-level competition.
“They’ve to go get their basketball legs, half of this team was in football a week ago,” Ramirez said. “So I’ve got them, and they’ve had maybe four practices all together. That’s what this (non-district schedule) is about. Playing against the best of the best, we had (McAllen Rowe) last week, we had (Weslaco High) and PSJA North now. We’ve been playing the best teams we can find because we want to raise our level of play, and I think that’s indicative of what today was. We just didn’t raise our level of play like we needed to. That’s a (lesson to learn) for us, and this is the type of game that will make us better.”