By KEVIN NARRO | Staff Writer
SAN PERLITA — San Perlita senior Tige Johnson had a tournament to remember.
After battling through an ankle injury he suffered Thursday, Johnson missed Friday’s game but returned to the lineup Saturday.
With 1:31 left in their championship game against Port Isabel, Johnson held the ball and saw a lane in the Tarpon defense. Johnson took his shot and came down with an emphatic dunk that sent the Trojan bench and crowd into a frenzy.
That is when San Perlita knew they had their star back. Johnson netted a game-high 35-points en route to a 75-56 win over the Tarpons in the 10th annual Letterman’s club tournament.
“A couple possessions before I was talking with Gabriel (Lopez) and I had my ankle tapped up and I felt bouncy,” Johnson said. “I saw the opportunity and did a quick cross and got to the basket. I felt that put an exclamation point on my weekend and I wanted to help my team win. This is my senior year and I wanted for us to win that first place trophy here at our tournament and we were able to get it done.”
Johnson was named tournament Most Valuable Player.
“It feels good, we were motivated and coach had been wanting to win this tournament for five years now,” Johnson said. “We finally made it and P.I. beat us last year, so it was great being able to beat them and it is amazing to be able to win the MVP.”
Johnson left Thursday’s game against Macedonia with an ankle injury and missed Fridays game, but was able to return Saturday morning and score 28 points in a game against IDEA Edinburg.
“It wasn’t so much about the game but Tige had a rough start to the tournament,” said San Perlita coach Nataniel Garza. “He got hurt the first game and he was hard on himself because he wanted to be there for his team. He missed some time but him winning the MVP solidified what he was able to do and was unleashed and was able to seal the game by being aggressive.”
The Trojans got off to a hot start with Johnson scoring six first-quarter points and jumped ahead of Port Isabel 17-11 after a Johnson three ball. Johnson fueled a strong second quarter by the Trojans with 10 more points.
Fellow senior EJ Nieto finished with 12 points, while James Herrera also dished 15 points in the win. The Tarpons managed to cut the lead to 37-27 in the third quarter after a frustrating second quarter.
The Trojans brought home the tourney title for the first time in its 10 years and is also a first for Garza who has been the head man for five years. In fact, San Perlita lost to Port Isabel in last years semi finals. The Tarpons went on to win the tournament.
“We have always gotten really close and this tournament has a lot of really good teams,” Garza said. “This year we made it a mission. Especially for the seniors and juniors who have been with me. We wanted to win the tournament. It means a lot to me and the kids that we got over the hump and were able to win our tournament.”
Dennis Lozano led the Tarpons with 15 points and Daniel Rinza Jr. followed with 14 points.
“We are five games into the season and we need to work on our defense,” said Tarpons coach Mike Hazelton. “That was the main problem tonight we were not getting back in time and we would have liked to have run with them but we were not scoring early so we couldn’t set up any presses but that is basically it. San Perlita is a great team.”