FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer
LA FERIA — When Edinburg Vela’s Ryan Garza looked over his stats at the halftime break, he thought to himself, “not again.”
He thought about the last time he had faced the Los Fresnos Falcons and he recalled only scoring five points against them. He remembered how much that burned inside him and he couldn’t let his team down again.
Having only scored seven points in the first two periods, Garza dug down deep and led his team to a 69-56 win over Los Fresnos in the championship game of the 2016 C.E. Vail boys basketball tournament at La Feria High School on Saturday afternoon.
Garza finished the game with 31 points, scoring 26 points in the second half, including five threes in the third quarter alone.
“I knew my team needed me to step up and when I saw that I only had three baskets (in the first half), I knew I couldn’t let it happen again, said Garza. “I knew they were going to rely on me to step up big time and I just found it somewhere inside myself, and God helped me out. I said a little prayer at halftime and he carried me through it.”
Vela head coach Lalo Rios was very pleased with what Garza was able to pull off on Saturday.
“Ryan’s tough and he does a special job understanding how to play the game,” Rios said. “In the first half he wasn’t playing too well and he was committing turnovers, and taking some bad shots. He wasn’t in the flow of the game so I had to pull him out and when I put him back in I think he kind of calmed down a bit.
“But in the second half when he got going, he was tough to stop and we are very fortunate that he helped us out tonight.”
With Vela down 31-29 to start the third, Garza sank three consecutive three-pointers and the comeback was on. The SaberCats took a 45-36 lead midway through the third period and never looked back.
Teammate Alec De La Cruz added 21 points and was named All Tournament MVP.
On a grander scale the win meant much more. Vela got some payback and got the defining victory they were looking for.
“I told them that in every season there is a game that just defines who we are going to be from here on out,” said Rios. “We told them that this game be that game because it’s against a quality opponent, a tough opponent and very good one.
“If we can come out and make a signature statement win, let’s use that momentum to carry us for the rest of the year.”
For the Falcons, Andrew Carrizales led the team with 18 points, Gabe Martinez added 12 points (9 of 11 from the free-throw line) and Alert Alarcon contributed nine points with three three-pointers.
The Falcons head to Mercedes next week for the City of Palms Tournament while Edinburg Vela hosts Donna on Dec. 20.