BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — From the opening tip, it was clear what Edinburg Vela wanted to do: get the ball to senior center Noah Sekinger, and play good defense.
Sekinger, the double-double machine, led the game with 20 points and had double-digit rebounds to lead the SaberCats to a crucial District 31-6A win over Edinburg Economedes, 64-35, on Friday night at Edinburg Economedes High School.
“We were really amped up, since last year we lost this one in a heartbreaker,” senior guard Josh Diaz said. “We wanted to come out and win this one.”
The result shakes up the landscape of 31-6A, as now Weslaco High, Econ and Vela are in a three-way tie for first place, with one loss each. By the way, next up for Vela is a Tuesday-night matchup with Weslaco High in Edinburg.
Sekinger was red hot to start the game, scoring 11 first-half points to lead Vela to a 26-16 lead at the half.
Two big moments gave Vela the confidence it needed to take over.
The first came at the first-quarter buzzer, when junior guard Bobby Espericueta hit a runner from beyond mid-court to end the period.
“Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good,” Vela coach Lucio Rodriguez said. “That was the case right there.”
While even Espericueta admitted there is some luck to it, his shot is pure, and it’s hard to believe he’s ever going to miss. While he doesn’t practice that specific shot during team practices, he does like to send a heave every now and then, when he is shooting around.
“Sometimes I just run up and launch it,” Espericueta said. “It looked good, but I just saw two seconds, so I let it fly, and sure enough it went in. … (when he returned to the bench) it was just a lot of hype, everyone was jumping on me.”
The second moment came just a little while later. With just more than three minutes left in the half, Sekinger rose up and dropped a thunderous two-handed dunk to put Vela up 11.
“Several guys from the student body have been asking for an in-game dunk, so I guess he did them a favor today,” Rodriguez said. “It was nice for him, because he works so hard. Like you said, a momentum changer. It helped us.”
Economedes could never find a rhythm on offense, largely due to Vela’s defense. A point of emphasis for Vela was to prevent open 3-pointers; don’t let the Jags get hot.
Econ only hit three 3’s in the game. One each in the first, second and fourth quarters.
When forced to drive on Vela, every attacker knows he will be running into Sekinger in the paint.
“I knew they weren’t going to have an answer for him,” Diaz said. “I truly believe he is the best big man in the Valley.”
Diaz wanted to make a statement with the win Friday, and he did, by locking down Econ senior guard Angel Salinas. Salinas was limited to nine points on Friday.
“This win means we are coming,” Diaz said. “You all are about to see the best of us.”
“It means we have to keep getting better, keep believing in the system that Lucio brings us,” Espericueta said. “If we keep believing in each other, we can go out there and win a district title.”