By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
Fatigue and Edinburg High’s strong shooting during the second half kept Pace from a home victory Tuesday.
Andrew Cantu’s 36-point night, which included 13 in the fourth, guided the Bobcats during their 63-52 win over the Vikings.
Coach Jose Luis Ramirez said the Vikings were still recovering from playing in a weekend tournament and fatigue affected his team.
“We were sluggish,” Ramirez said. “We played like we were tired and things like that. We had a rough tournament this past weekend (Pace played in the Hidalgo Pirate Classic).(Monday), I actually gave them the afternoon off so they could recoup. I didn’t use a lot of my bench players in the tournament, so the guys that were playing were my top six and they played quite a few minutes. They did well (in the tournament). I don’t think they were fully recovered yet.
“I don’t want to make any excuses for the kids. They played tired and they played a little sluggish. You could see it on the floor. They were short on their shots, and defensively they didn’t move with the intensity that they usually do.”
The Vikings made a charge halfway through the fourth quarter.
Luis Rodriguez stole the ball and drove down the court to score a bucket that cut the Bobcats lead to 51-45.
On Pace’s next possession, Esteban Garza grabbed a rebound on the defensive end and drove to the basket for a layup, and he was fouled on the way up.
Garza missed his free throw, but the Vikings narrowed their deficit to 51-47 with 3:30 left in the game.
Fouls on the defensive side of the court led to Cantu getting chance after chance from free-throw line, which kept the Bobcats ahead the rest of the game.
“Once we got started, our pressure defense got our offense going,” Edinburg High coach Zeke Cuellar said. “We weren’t doing too great at the beginning. I think our defense played a big part of getting our legs under us and running some of the stuff we wanted to run on offense for our shooters.”
Cantu’s outing including four 3-pointers and a 12-for-12 night from the charity stripe.
“(Cantu) went off,” Ramirez said. “I have to give credit to Edinburg High. They hit their free throws and hit a lot of open looks. They came out firing tonight.”
Rodriguez led Pace with 14 points and made four buckets from beyond the arc. Garza scored 12.
Pace ended the first quarter with a 12-10 lead and went into halftime tied with Edinburg High at 27. The Bobcats scored 36 points in the second half to pull away from the Vikings.
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.