By EDWARD SEVERN, Staff Writer
RAYMONDVILLE — The Raymondville Bearkats continued their undefeated District 32-4A season with a 66-57 win over the Rio Hondo Bobcats on Friday night.
“It is a senior group this year,” Raymondville’s Jayson Cantu said. “We have a lot of experience. Our whole team is experienced. I think that has helped us win a lot of these close games.”
Bearkats senior Ethan Tagle was on fire from beyond the arc during the opening quarter. Tagle hit three triples to give the Bearkats a strong start.
Rio Hondo senior Ethan Jeradiah responded with a couple of 3-pointers but did not get any help on the scoreboard in the quarter.
Tagle’s 10 points in the period gave the Bearkats a 15-6 lead going in the second.
“In warmups I was hitting them, and I came out and said I am hot, give me the ball, and I hit them,” Tagle said.
A steal and layup by Rio Hondo’s Zechariah Rios narrowed the Bearkats’ advantage to 19-15. Tagle responded with a floater and Bearkats senior Jayden Garza nailed a corner 3-pointer to put Raymondville back up 24-15.
The Bearkats went to halftime up 24-20.
Jeradiah weaved in traffic and finished at the rim with contact to start the second half. Rios did the same on the next possession and both hit their foul shots, putting the Bobcats on top 26-24.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Rio Hondo guard Jared Basaldua gave the Bobcats their biggest lead of the game, 34-28.
Raymondville responded with Tagle again. The senior hit from beyond the arc and finished the third quarter with an old-fashioned triple to cut the Bobcats’ lead to 39-38 going into the fourth.
Both teams continued to trade 3-point baskets.
“Lots of team confidence out there,” Garza said. “I was slow getting going, but we started playing good defense and we feed off of that.”
Tagle and Garza dueled with Rios from downtown. Garza sent the crowd into a frenzy after he hit a step-back 3 to put the Bearkats up 54-47 with 4:30 left.
“We are making the least mistakes in the last three minutes,” Raymondville coach Rick Tamez said. “As long as it is close down the stretch, we have been the team that is more composed because we have been there.”
After Rio Hondo closed the distance again, senior Joshua Valdez scored three straight layups for Raymondville. Garza stole the inbounds pass after the last Valdez layup and finished with contact, giving the Bearkats a 62-51 advantage with just a couple of minutes left.