By MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
For the second time in two games, the Pace Vikings found themselves down nine points to open the fourth quarter, this time to the Edcouch-Elsa Yellowjackets.
The Vikings made a run to take the lead, but their offense was held without a field goal for the final five minutes and ultimately they fell 42-41 to the Yellowjackets in a District 32-5A contest Friday night at Pace.
Pace led 41-38 with less than three minutes to go, but back-to-back baskets from Marcos Escobar and Dillon Gomez gave the Yellowjackets the lead for good.
The Vikings had chances down the stretch for potential go-ahead baskets as Edcouch-Elsa went 0 for 5 from the free-throw line during the final 37 seconds, but three turnovers shut the door on the home team.
“ There were too many mistakes in the end and turnovers,” Pace coach Jose Luis Ramirez said. “We did our job defensively, but we turned the ball over and we didn’t shoot the ball the way we wanted to. We fouled and they were missing free throws and giving us the game basically … we just couldn’t take it.”
Edcouch-Elsa went 3 for 17 from the free-throw line, including 0 for 9 in the second half alone.
The Jackets also struggled down the stretch, scoring six fourth-quarter points, but coach Lalo Rios will take the win.
“ We struggled from the free-throw line, and it’s not the first game,” he said. “The guys need to learn how to calm down in certain situations and just take their time. But we hung tough. We had a great third quarter, but not a very good fourth quarter. It just goes back to inexperience, and learning how to play in big games and learning how to win big games.”
The loss is the Vikings’ second in a row as they fell to 5-2 in district. Edcouch-Elsa improved to 5-2.
After a back-and-forth first half, Pace trailed 25-21 at the break but opened the third with a pair of buckets from Baltazar Hinojosa and Emilio Padron to tie the game.
While those were their only shots from the field in the quarter for Pace, Edcouch-Elsa’s Aaron Aguinaga heated up, scoring all 11 of his game-high 19 points in the third quarter and putting the Yellowjackets ahead 36-27 after three.
Pace countered with a 10-0 run to start the fourth, beginning with an Alex Agado 3-pointer and ending with a Jose Luis Lozoya three-point play to put the Vikings ahead 37-36 with 5:07 to play.
Pace hit just four free-throws the rest of the way before Escobar and Gomez put the game away.
Escobar finished with 12 points and Gomez had just four, but all came in the fourth quarter.
Baltazar Hinojosa led the Vikings with eight points, while Padron, Lozoya and Cristian Guajardo added seven apiece.
Pace had no players score in double figures as their second-half shooting woes continued for the second straight game.
“ There’s nothing you can do,” Ramirez said. “You can’t feel sorry for yourself. You just have to go back and keep working and focus a little bit more on how to finish the game. Offensively, I thought we were better, but the last two games we got cold late. I don’t know if it’s conditioning or the long season, but whatever it is we have to get our legs back.”