McALLEN — While still early in the district season, there was a lot on the line in Friday night’s 30-6A matchup between the PSJA North Raiders (19-5, 3-0) and McAllen Rowe Warriors (15-9, 2-1).
As two of the Rio Grande Valley’s top teams, the atmosphere matched the intensity on the floor as the Raiders were able to grind out a 57-41 victory over the Warriors at McAllen Rowe High School.
After the Raiders stormed out to a 9-2 first quarter lead, back-to-back buckets from Rowe’s Darrin Everage cut North’s lead to just three during the second.
But each time the Warriors drew close, the Raiders had an answer.
Friday night, it was Fernie Salazar. The senior came off the bench to spark PSJA North with seven of his 13 total points during the second quarter.
“I thought when Darrin hit those two 3s, you’re only going to hold a good team down for so long, I knew they were going to make a run,” PSJA North head coach Jaime Gongora said. “We put Fernie in there and he hit two 3s and I think that helped us and gave us a lot of confidence.”
The Raiders went on to outscore the Warriors 15-4 during a decisive third quarter as Rowe didn’t have enough to overcome the double-digit deficit.
“I told my kids we just have to believe in shooting and we’ll shoot better next time,” Rowe head coach Jose Yebra said. “It’s part of the game. We didn’t shoot the ball well, they did a good job and they played well.”
The only Warriors player who came through consistently throughout the game was Louie Yebra as the junior finished with a game-high 18 points. Everage added 12 points, but it was too little, too late for Rowe.
Salazar said his focus was on producing for his team on both ends of the floor.
“Just play defense and hit my shots,” he said.
Raiders senior forward Iziaah Rangel finished the game with just six points, but he made his presence felt in every other way possible. He hauled in double-digit rebounds, dished out some key assists to get teammates going, and most importantly, battled against the size and length of Rowe’s Everage and Louie Yebra.
“I thought Iziaah Rangel, to me, was the best player on the floor. He just dominated the boards on both ends,” Gongora said. “I don’t know if he had 20 rebounds, but he had a ton, and that’s what helped us keep them at bay. They’re so big and athletic that they really rebound two or three times and they hurt you with their size, but Iziaah really neutralized that, he was really a monster on the boards tonight.”
PSJA North guards Elijah De La Garza (15 points) and Matt Cantu (12 points) also had big fourth quarters to prevent the Warriors comeback.
“If we play like this every game, we’ll be good,” Cantu said. “We messed up a little bit toward the end, but if we can play like this for 32 minutes, we’ll be good.”
Next up for the Raiders is a home game against Mission High at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“We just got to be better,” Gongora said. “We’ll be at practice early in the morning and we’re going to get ready for Tuesday and watch film. I told the kids coming in here and winning will not mean anything if we don’t win Tuesday.”
Meanwhile, the Warriors will be looking to bounce back as they host PSJA High at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“Our kids are ready to play; they know what it takes to win,” coach Yebra said. “Our kids are used to winning, today is a setback and that’s fine. That’s a good team that we lost to and we’ll play better next time.”