By MARK MOLINA
Staff Writer
LA FERIA – As Santa Rosa junior Leo Lara sat and slammed his hand on the gym floor, he knew he had done all he could for the Warriors against the 6A state-ranked Brownsville Veterans Chargers.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough.
After already dropping in 28 second-half points, Lara missed what would’ve been a game-tying three at the buzzer.
The Chargers narrowly escaped the Warriors, 71-68, during the opening round of the C.E. Vail Classic Thursday afternoon in La Feria.
Lara expressed after the game that he could’ve used better form on that last shot, but is more disappointed at not being able to grab what would have been a statement win.
“I thought it would go in, but I didn’t jump high enough and didn’t follow through.” Lara said. “Vets is probably regarded as one of the best teams in the Valley, so we wanted to win to prove that we are up there with those same teams.”
Veterans improved to 7-1 on the season, but head coach Larry Gibson knew his team had been in a battle and praised Lara for his efforts after the game.
“Santa Rosa has some good shooters and No. 3 (Lara) is one of the best players in the Valley,” Gibson said. “In the third, quarter we were trying to control him— it’s not like we weren’t. We just couldn’t stop him and we did everything we could.
“He got hot and he made shots.”
Lara scored 19 of the Warriors’ 24 third-quarter points.
The Chargers led 49-37 midway through the third quarter and then Lara sank eight consecutive points to bring the Warriors (3-6) within four.
After adding a pair of free throws, point guard AB Lozoya drilled a long three-point shot from the left wing to put Santa Rosa up 50-49.
The Warriors’ 13-0 spurt was without their post presence, Matt Garcia, who fouled out early in the second half. But becoming the aggressor is what head Coach Johnny Cipriano said helped the Warriors back in the game after trailing for most of the first half.
“I told the boys at half that we weren’t shooting and that we can’t score if we don’t shoot,” he said. “We got aggressive and became more offensive –minded and tried to score more — that was it. We missed some shots that we could be making, but we went out, tried our best and that’s all that can be said.”
Garcia’s absence was felt as the Warriors lost some rebounds to the Chargers.
Vets regained the lead on a Darrian Thuku three-point play in the fourth quarter.
The Chargers extended their lead to seven and began to put the game away, but Lara and Lozoya kept Santa Rosa in it.
Vets’ Aaron Villarreal missed a pair of free throws with 6.05 seconds to play; setting up Lara’s missed three-pointer at the buzzer.
Lozoya added 16 for the Warriors, while Villarreal posted 19 for the Chargers.
Alex Marquez led Vets with 21 points.
The Warriors rebounded later on in the day by beating Edinburg Economedes 51-46. They take on La Joya Juarez Lincoln today at 1:30 p.m.