By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Lopez was down late, but Julio Jimenez stepped up in a crucial moment against Edcouch-Elsa.
With the Lobos trailing by a point, Jimenez hit a two free throws with 10.9 seconds left to take the lead and would give Lopez a 66-64 win over the Yellowjackets in a District 32-5A game Friday at Lopez.
“We’re in a playoff fight and we had to get this W,” Jimenez said. “It was a great win for us. I appreciate all my teammates for their incredible effort on the defensive and offensive end.”
Jimenez finished with 16 points — including 10 in the first half — and nine rebounds to keep the Lobos (5-6 in District 32-5A) in the playoff hunt and dropped Edcouch-Elsa to 6-5 in district play.
“We put a lot on his shoulders and he carries us,” Lopez coach Neil Schuster said of Jimenez. “He’s trusting his teammates more and because he is they’re hitting big shots and it’s making his job a little bit easier. (Friday) he came through and hit some big free throws.”
After a back-and-forth first half, Lopez held a slim lead at the break, but Edcouch-Elsa stayed close as Jesse Granados had 13 points and Marco Aguinaga added 10 in the first half.
The Yellowjackets didn’t go away quietly. Granados tied the game at 31 early in the third quarter, but Jimenez had a putback dunk to give Lopez a 35-33 lead. The teams traded buckets and a big 3 by Granados tied it at 39. Then Aguinaga had back-to-back buckets to finish the quarter for Edcouch-Elsa and gave it a 45-43 edge.
“You have to be able to weather the storm,” Schuster said. “There’s going to be runs against a team like this, they way they shoot the ball, the way they get after it on defense … That’s one of the best shooting teams I’ve coached against and to pull out this win they way they were shooting the ball, it says a lot about my kids. They don’t give up and play to the very end.
“The kids showed a lot of resilience in the second half. I was proud of them. We found a way to win.”
Lopez fought back in the fourth quarter. A 3-pointer by Juan Briones started a 7-0 run for the Lobos and a 50-45 lead. But Grandados kept shooting and hit three 3s down the stretch, the last one gave the Yellowjackets a 64-63 advantage with just seconds to play. Jimenez hit a pair to take the lead and Briones hit one more as Lopez fought off Edcouch-Elsa in a crucial district victory.
“We kind of lost our character, we kind of lost what we’ve been doing in practice,” Edcouch-Elsa coach Robert Capello said. “We forgot what it was to win, what it is to win a close game. We threw the ball away and missed easy layups. Missed a free throw here and there, which decided the game.”
Briones finished with a team-high 22 points, including five 3-pointers for Lopez. JD Diaz and Johnny Diaz had 10 points apiece and combined for five steals for the Lobos.
Granados finished with a game-high 27 points — including seven 3s — five rebounds and six steals to lead Edcouch-Elsa. Aguinaga had 17 points and five rebounds and Joseph Gonzalez added six points on a pair of 3s and five rebounds for the Yellowjackets.
Capello said in hindsight he should have done a better job defensively against Jimenez.
“He’s a hell of a player,” he said. “He’s one of best players in the district. He’s a beast; a monster and he took it to us. Hopefully (this loss) will motivate us. We can’t be complacent. We have to fight harder than we have.”
Lopez needed the district win, but must keep winning to give itself a chance to reach the postseason.
“It was huge,” Schuster said. “We’re fighting for our playoff lives every night, so this was huge. It was a must win and the kids found a way to win.”
EDCOUCH-ELSA 50, LOPEZ 32
In the girls game, Edcouch-Elsa used its defense and a 9-0 run to start the second half to pull away from Lopez.
The Lady Yellowjackets totaled 22 steals, many of which resulted in points off turnovers in transition to add to their lead in the second half.
“We broke the press really well, we just failed to convert on the free throws and layups,” Lopez coach Adam Castaneda said. “When you miss 21 free throws, it’s pretty hard to come out with a win. We need to work on a few things.”
The Lady Lobos struggled from the charity stripe, hitting just 16 of 37 for the game.
Edcouch-Elsa led by just seven points at the break, but pushed the advantage to 18 by the end of the third quarter. The Yellowjackets started the second half on a 9-0 surge and Lopez ended it with a bucket by Miriam De Leon, but found itself down 28-14. Edcouch-Elsa kept up its defense and used a full court press to increase its lead to 34-16 by the end of the third.
“We made a couple adjustments at halftime,” Edcouch-Elsa coach Daniel Richardson said. “We kept applying pressure. We knew we could take away their ball handling with our press.”
Lopez (0-13 in District 32-5A) got in an offensive groove in the fourth quarter, but played the Yellowjackets (4-9) even and it wasn’t enough to make the comeback and earn its first district win.
Nora Espinoza led the Lady Lobos with 11 points, including 6 of 7 from the line in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to stop Edcouch-Elsa’s balanced scoring led by Alinah Rodriguez with nine points, eight rebounds and three steals.
Shannon Dominguez and Yana Ybarra each had seven points, Ashley Galarza finished with six points, three rebounds and a pair of steals and Desirae Garza added seven rebounds and three steals for the Lady Yellowjackets.
De Leon finished with seven points, five rebounds and four steals, Kenya Gonzalez had five second-half points and Kathie Barrientes and Priscilla Davila combined to grab 17 rebounds for the Lady Lobos.
Lopez had trouble getting into a rhythm with play stoppage with the number of fouls called and had two players foul out. But Castaneda wasn’t making excuses for his team.
“We have a really young group,” he said. “Our chemistry is coming around, but we need to focus on our layups. We just have to play better basketball.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.