LA JOYA — After three days of hitting the hardwood in La Joya, the Austin Westlake Chaparrals took home first-place hardware by winning the second annual La Joya Packs’ South Texas Shootout Basketball Tournament.
The Chaparrals finished the tournament a perfect six straight games led by the play of top 2021 recruit KJ Adams.
With a good-sized crowd on hand inside the La Joya High School gym, spectators and players from other tournament teams whipped out their cell phones to record Adams making highlight reel plays. Adams, a junior, has drawn interest and offers from schools like the University of Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Louisiana State University, Florida and Oklahoma among others.
Westlake breezed through pool play with a 67-26 win over Harlingen High, a 59-22 victory against PSJA Southwest and a 69-21 win against Edinburg High.
After advancing to the championship side of the platinum bracket, Westlake proceeded to take down Katy Seven Lakes and Laredo Alexander in the semifinals.
In the championship game, Adams and Westlake ran through Corpus Christi Veterans, a team that won its first five tournament games, by a score of 84-52 to earn the platinum bracket’s first-place trophy. Adams was also named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Weslaco High was the only team from the Rio Grande Valley to advance to the semifinals of the platinum bracket, while Edcouch-Elsa lost in the platinum bracket’s consolation game to Katy Seven Lakes in overtime 64-60. Corpus Christi Veterans earned 2nd in the Platinum Bracket, while Laredo Alexander finished 3rd. Laredo LBJ won the silver bracket championship by beating Corpus Christi Moody.