ELSA — With bragging rights and playoff positioning on the line Friday night against rival Edcouch-Elsa, Mercedes left little to chance.
The Tigers stormed out to a 10-point lead after the first quarter and kept their foot on the pedal for the final three as Mercedes took down the Yellow Jackets 75-66 in a District 32-5A rivalry game at Edcouch-Elsa High School.
“Rivalry games, whoever jumps out on top, whoever shows who’s going to be the aggressor can set the tone for the rest of the game,” Mercedes head coach Rick Treviño said. “We came out and jumped on them real quick and it was just a matter of keeping that intensity up and not taking plays off. We knew they were going to fight back and they did, but we did what we had to do.”
Both teams entered the game with identical 4-4 records in 32-5A, but the Mercedes win is the Tigers’ second against the Yellow Jackets, giving Mercedes the tiebreaker if the two finish the year with the same district record.
“We beat them the first time, so we knew if we beat them this time we’d have the tiebreaker on them. We talked about this being a big game for both of us, then plus the rivalry, it was just fun, nerve-wrecking, everything at the same time,” Treviño said.
Mercedes’ trio of Jordan Ovalle, Brandon Lozoya and Horacio Pequeño proved to be too much for the Yellow Jackets and their standout Aaron Aguinaga.
Edcouch-Elsa’s Aguinaga finished with a game-high 28 points to go with six rebounds, four assists and three steals, but foul trouble ended the senior’s night midway through the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, Ovalle totaled 24 points, Lozoya finished with 21, and the team’s center Pequeño posted a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
“We wanted it bad, they wanted it bad and we both came out here to compete. It was a good game, good culture, but we were more hungry,” Lozoya said.
Ovalle’s team-high 24 points against the rival Yellow Jackets was childhood dreams realized for the Mercedes senior.
“It was great. I’ve been dreaming of playing in this rivalry since I was a kid watching my brother play; it was just a dream come true,” he said.
Mercedes is now 5-4 in District 32-5A and sits alone as the fourth seed, while Edcouch-Elsa falls to fifth.
The road doesn’t get any easier for Mercedes next week as it’ll face district title contenders Brownsville Pace and Donna High next week.
“We’re in our tough stretch. We start off the second round with the top four teams. This was the second of the four, so we got two more tough ones and we’ll just go one by one and hopefully we can get one here or there,” Treviño said.
The Tigers will continue district play a 7:30 p.m. Tuesday matchup against Brownsville Pace at Mercedes High School.
Meanwhile, Edcouch-Elsa (4-5 in district) will be looking to bounce back on the road against Valley View at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.