By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
Tough as nails. That’s the phrase Los Fresnos coach Marco Hinojosa uses when talking about his point guard, Hugo De La Cruz.
De La Cruz, a senior who is considered one of the top players in the Metro area, missed seven games early in the season after suffering a knee injury but made his way back into the lineup.
It wasn’t easy to keep him from rushing the process, but he took his time and is almost back to playing full speed.
“It was real tough because it’s my senior year and I want to support my guys and play with them,” De La Cruz said. “It was tough, but I had to go through it. My coach talked about adversity, and I went through it.”
“Every day I wanted to play but my coach had to hold me back,” he added. “It was hard.”
With their top guard back, the Falcons have taken a step in the right direction with a 1-0 start to the district loop and look like contenders in the wide-open District 32-6A.
“Hugo’s an all-star,” Hinojosa said. “As soon as he came back, we got better. We were staying afloat. (We were) barely winning games. He’s a good asset to the team and a great player to have. He makes everybody’s job easy. He makes my job easy. I expect him to turn it up a notch come district time. It’s his senior year, and he’s one of the better players in the district. So I’m going to expect him to carry the load a lot, but he’s a special player and we’re going to miss him after this year.”
De La Cruz was injured during the first game of the season, a 59-48 win against Weslaco East. His coach said it was hard to keep his on-court leader from rushing through rehab so he could get back on the court.
“He was anxious,” Hinojosa said. “He was pissed. He was like, ‘I want to get back on. I want to get back on.’ I told him to take his time because he needs it. He’s going to play anyway. Get healed, get better, get in the training room and do your exercises. When he came back, he was still a step slow. I still don’t think he’s 100 percent. I’m not saying he’s not effective. He’s very effective, but I don’t think he’s 100 percent. I would say he’s 90 percent, but I would take him at 90 percent any day.”
Still, De La Cruz playing at 90 percent is better than most.
He leads Los Fresnos in scoring with 16.6 points per game, and his 3.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and team-leading 3.5 steals per game suggest his all-around game is strong again.
The guard is the team’s go-to scorer as well as the shutdown defender. Hinojosa said De La Cruz is capable of disrupting a team’s offense with his perimeter defense. But it’s his fearless nature that makes the savvy senior a special player.
“The dude’s fearless,” Hinojosa said. “He’s tough as nails. One of the toughest kids we’ve had in our program. He just knows what I want and how I want things done. Not a lot of kids know how to do things the way I want them done. He knows, he understands and he’s just a tough kid.”
The district is going to be a challenge, but De La Cruz and the Falcons are up to the task of making a postseason return.
“We just have to keep playing consistent every game no matter who the opponent is,” he said. “We just have to stay focused. If not, we could get beat by any team (in the district).”
Joshua McKinney covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @joshuabvherald.