MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
LA FERIA — After weathering the storm on the court in the first half, the Santa Maria boys basketball team could not match the speed and depth of the La Feria Lions.
As a result, the Lions opened up the second half on a 13-0 run and never looked back on their way to a 56-26 win over the Cougars on Tuesday night at La Feria High School.
The Lions ball movement put the Cougars on their heels and produced easy scores for their offense, but it was the La Feria defense that made the difference and allowed just seven Santa Maria points in the second half.
Still, La Feria (1-2) knows it’s early in the year for both teams and they still have a ways to go before district play.
“Our intensity on defense is one thing we’re trying to pride ourselves in and work a little harder on and it showed a lot in the second half,” La Feria head coach Ruben Zambrano said. “We’re both coming out of football and right now is the time to get the bad passes and turnovers out of our system. We didn’t do anything special, we’re all starting fresh.”
Santa Maria head coach Albert Briones wasn’t surprised at the result, but was pleased to see his team be competitive, if only for a while.
The Santa Maria youth and lack of depth caught up to them by night’s end.
“All the credit to La Feria in the second half; they did a heck of a job. Our guys were worn out and we’re not where we need to be,” Briones said. “The second half killed us and (La Feria) wanted it more; we got out hustled. La Feria is going to be a good squad this year. We’re looking for district and we’ve always played a tough non-district schedule.”
The Cougars fall to 4-4 on the season and are a different-looking squad from the one that made the regional tournament last year. They return just one starter.
In the first period, the Lions had trouble shaking the Cougars and never led by more than seven.
However, it was a game of runs for the Lions.
Santa Maria tied the game at 17-17 after a 5-0 run, but the Lions closed the half on a 7-2 run of their own to head into the half up 26-19.
In the third is where things began to unravel for the Cougars as the Lions defense intercepted passes and made getting into the paint hard for Santa Maria.
The Lions allowed just seven third-quarter points and blanked the Cougars in the fourth quarter 11-0.
La Feria was led on the night by Jose Luis Martinez’s 14 points, while Ozzy Cisneros dropped 13 points, including a pair of three-point shots.
Santa Maria’s Martin Sanchez led his team with eight.