BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | THE MONITOR
SAN JUAN — Coming into 2017 with a senior-laden team, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln set some goals.
The top three: win the city championship, make the playoffs and win the district title; all of which would be firsts for the school.
Last year’s 15-20 overall record and 2-9 District 30-6A record may not have elicited confidence in those goals, but once the Huskies got rolling this year, the expectations started to grow and those goals didn’t feel so far off anymore.
“(Our season opening win over) PSJA North gave us a lot of confidence,” senior guard Cruz Mendoza said. “From there, the confidence was really high and we just wanted to win and win. That’s all we cared about, just winning. It feels good to win especially during our senior year. That’s all we want to do.”
The team that was accustomed to not winning much after 2016, suddenly had turned a corner, and the Huskies didn’t lose in their first 10 contests.
“I felt like our team was getting too confident going into games,” coach Albert Carrillo said. “So, I kept telling our coaching staff, ‘we are going to have to lose so that we can learn how to win again.’ I felt like they were getting too cocky. When it happened, it took us two games to bounce back, but then we picked it up again.”
Now back to their winning ways, the Huskies (15-4) started hot and ended hot on Tuesday night.
They were victorious in a non-district tilt with the PSJA High Bears, 57-48, at PSJA High School, thanks in large part to the quality shots that they hit.
“We have a point guard, Cruz, a down-low presence, (senior) Luis (Garza), and then I surround them with shooters. That’s what I tell these guys.”
The huskies hit nine threes on the night, many of them coming in a dominant third quarter that went to Juarez-Lincoln 22-12.
“We have been shooting very well,” Mendoza, who finished with 13 points, said. “That’s what we practice most of the time. That and ball movement. Coach always tells us to find the extra pass. That’s what we did tonight.”
Juarez-Lincoln senior forward Lalo Torres lit up the score sheet, finishing the night with 20 points.
Torres scored 15 combined points off the bench in the second and third quarters, before adding five in the fourth.
Torres was just half the story of the dominant Huskies’ second half. Garza started off a little slow, but exploded for eight points in the second half. He was also a menace on the boards, often getting the Huskies second- and third-chance opportunities.
“We wanted to get him going in the beginning, but he got a little frustrated,” Mendoza said of Garza. “We got him going, told him it was going to be OK and he got it going and played well. … It feels good for him to get our back because he’s our biggest body out there. We feel good about having him going out there.”
Mendoza, meanwhile, was swarmed by the quick guards of the Bears and had to look for creative ways to find room. On several occasions he would dive into the lane before pulling up for a jumper near the elbow. His speed beat his perimeter defenders and his sharp brakes allowed for a cushion from the post defenders.
“He makes my job easier,” Carrillo said. “He’s like a coach out there on the court, and he does a very good job. He’s a four-year letterman and he is expected to do all of the things he does.”
The Huskies started the game hot, while PSJA took some time to get rolling. Juarez-Lincoln opened up a 10-2 lead in the first quarter, before the Bears righted the ship with a 14-0 run bridging the first two quarters. PSJA senior guard Robby Garza had the hot hand, scoring 9 first-half points. On the other side, the silky smooth handles of Mendoza steadied the Huskies. The Bears took a 23-21 edge to the locker rooms at halftime.
For Juarez-Lincoln, Luis Garza finished with 8 points, and seniors JR Galvan and Andre Suarez each added 7 points.
The Bears leading scorer was Robby Garza with 13. Junior Andrew Liszt added 9 points, while senior Nathan Sanchez tallied 8.
The Huskies have their goals in mind, but there is only one that Carillo is focused on.
“We haven’t even made the playoffs,” Carrillo said. “Those are our goals, win the city championship and make the playoffs. But, our primary goal is to compete for the district title.”
Still, the kids who have grown up playing against their sister schools and those players are anxious to earn those bragging rights.
“We take that very personal,” Mendoza said. “We really want to win the championship from them three schools. I think we have a very good chance, we just have to play hard and play smart.”