By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
LOS FRESNOS — The idea behind the inaugural Tournament of Champions was to match some of the Rio Grande Valley’s top boys basketball teams against teams from upstate.
Los Fresnos coach and tournament host Marco Hinojosa said the three-day, eight-team event at the Los Fresnos United campus was a success and will be played again in the future.
“The tournament is everything we expected it to be,” Hinojosa said. “We treated the (participating) teams right, and I want to say it was first class. Thank God there were no injuries and everything has gone great.
“We had a slam dunk contest and a 3-point contest, and the school went crazy (watching the competitions) because they were let out of class,” Hinojosa added. “It’s been a good experience, and for our first one, I think we did a good job. We’ll continue to do it next year and try to make it better and better.”
Euless Trinity won the tournament with a 74-66 triumph in Saturday’s final against Edinburg Vela. Earlier in the day, McAllen Rowe defeated Los Fresnos 45-37 in the third-place game, and San Antonio Reagan downed Harlingen High 77-51 for the consolation championship.
Euless Trinity coach Mark Villines said it was a worthwhile trip for his team to make from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to the Valley.
“It’s going to be a long ride home, but we try to take a trip somewhere every year,” said Villines, whose team improved to 7-7 on the season with three victories in the tournament. “When we were invited to come here, we jumped on it because I knew that for our players to get out of the Metroplex, it would be an experience and make memories for them.
“I think this trip has helped our team bond, and it has hopefully worked out well,” added Villines, whose squad has already played some of the top-ranked teams in the state in Class 6A and 5A this season. “We’ve played some tough competition in the Metroplex, and there are no slouches down here, either. They play a different style than we do down here, but it’s (still) good basketball.”
The Sabercats just couldn’t stay with the fast-paced Trojans in the title game.
Led by tournament MVP Andre Nunley, a senior point guard with plenty of quickness, Trinity jumped out to a 9-0 advantage thanks to three 3-pointers and didn’t look back.
Vela trailed the entire game as the Trojans led 19-17 after one quarter and were ahead 35-28 at halftime. Trinity outscored Vela 15-9 during the third quarter to take a 50-37 advantage into the final period.
Still, the Sabercats refused to back down and cranked up their offense by outscoring Trinity 29-24 during the final quarter, but it was just not enough. Even though they trailed by double digits for most of the second half, the Sabercats hit three 3-pointers during the final 28 seconds to narrow the final score to an eight-point margin.
Nunley led the Trojans with 22 points. Teammate Marcus Ervin added 11 points with one 3-pointer.
Noah Sekinger led Vela with 20 points. Teammates Kaleb Coronado and Bobby Espericueta added 16 and 11 points, respectively, with Coronado recording four 3-pointers and Espericueta making one.
Vela reached the title game with a 61-53 victory over Los Fresnos in the semifinals earlier Saturday. Trinity advanced to the championship with a 61-31 semifinal win against Rowe.
The Rowe-Los Fresnos game for third place went back and forth before the Warriors surged ahead for good at the end.
Rowe, which trailed 23-21 at halftime, outpointed the Falcons 15-9 during the third quarter and took a 36-32 lead into the fourth period before outscoring Los Fresnos 9-5 over the final eight minutes for a victory by eight points.
Louie Guerra led Rowe with 11 points, including one 3-pointer. Teammate John Galvan added 10 points. For Los Fresnos, Ricky Altamirano was the top scorer with 21 points, including four 3-pointers. Teammate Josh Martinez contributed 10 points with a pair of 3-pointers.