BY JOHN JOE RIVERA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
ALAMO — The Edinburg Vela SaberCats hit the road on Tuesday afternoon for a District 31-6A matchup against the PSJA Memorial Wolverines and pulled out a 54-50 win.
“The ebb and flow of the game, you ought to be able to make adjustments as a player and a coach, and we were able to do that down the stretch,” Vela coach David Keith said.
Vela started off the game shooting well, as senior guard Trey Chavana nailed the first 3-pointer of the afternoon en route a commanding 8-0 lead. The SaberCats maintained the 8-point cushion and finished the quarter up 18-10.
In the second, the Wolverines began applying pressure in the backcourt, resulting in easy scoring opportunities.
“We started playing their game,” Chavana said. “We started slowing it down, taking 3s, settling for shots instead of driving to the basket and creating for ourselves.”
Senior guard Jared Koenig made back-to-back layups for Memorial to tie the game at 18. The Wolverines’ smothering defense held the SaberCats scoreless in the quarter until Chavana converted a layup to bring Vela within one point, 21-20, with 2:10 remaining in the half. Koenig would sink two free throws just before intermission for a 24-20 lead.
“We kind of just woke up,” Koenig said of the factors that led to the Wolverines’ run. “We came out really flat and we started going, we started hitting shots and started finding the open man. That got us back in it.”
After the break, Vela fine-tuned its offensive tempo to speed the game up and make Memorial play at an uncomfortable pace. The adjustments worked, as the SaberCats outscored the Wolverines 15-11 during the third quarter to tie the game heading into the final period.
The fourth quarter started off with both teams missing key free throws to keep the contest close. With Vela leading 42-38, Memorial post Rey Salinas made a layup and drew a foul. Salinas’ made free throw brought the Wolverines within one point, 42-41.
Memorial guard Adrian Rosales nailed a 3-pointer to bring his team within two with 1:56 left in regulation. But Vela junior forward Noah Sekinger came up clutch for the SaberCats, making a huge putback basket to seal the victory, 54-50.
“Our goal was to try to attack the basket as much as possible, and I thought at certain times in the game we got away from that and started settling for 3s, and we didn’t shoot the ball well tonight,” Memorial coach Eric Steinbrunner said.
With the win, Edinburg Vela improves to 2-0 in district play, while PSJA Memorial falls to 0-2.