By EDWARD SEVERN, Special to RGVSports.com
SAN BENITO – The St. Joseph Academy Bloodhounds defeated the San Benito Greyhounds 79-59 on Friday in a non-district matchup.
Bloodhounds junior Gerry Martinez went off on the Greyhounds for 36 points as St. Joseph continues its impressive start to the season.
Both teams did not need to warm up their shot to start the game. Greyhounds senior Jermaine Corbin was money from downtown early, hitting four during the first quarter. Junior Deanthony Mireles was aggressive all game, and he found the lane and the free throw line often.
Soft boos and chants of overrated echoed the gym when Martinez got the ball, but he silenced that quickly by hitting deep 3-pointers and attacking the lane to get to the line. Martinez scored the last eight points during the first quarter to give the Bloodhounds a 21-19 lead.
“It comes with the territory, it is expected,” Martinez said with a smile. “I had a good game, my teammates do a good job of giving me the ball and our coaches do a good job of setting us up for success. We got to take the season one step at a time.”
Martinez was well-supported throughout the game by his teammates. Luigi Cristiano, the Bloodhounds’ post, protected the rim well and dished out the occasional no-look pass to open teammates. Bernie Garza was money in the corners and cut in well. Martin Tapia was an engine at times for the Bloodhounds and helped move the ball around really well and Josh Cisneros was a workhorse and has a good basketball IQ.
The starting five all shot well and finished well at the rim. They were all well-drilled and disciplined. Garza finished with 18 points and Cisneros had 12 points to help out Martinez.
The Bloodhounds started to pull away during the second quarter and went up 39-25 at the half. The third quarter is when the Bloodhounds really opened things up.
To start the third, St. Joseph went on a 19-6 run, with a lot of those points coming from Garza. He scored 8 of the first 10 points during the quarter, a 3 in the corner and a couple of layups.
Martinez and Cisneros chipped in also. The lanes really opened up for St. Joseph. San Benito had to close down the 3-point shot, and the Bloodhounds found the lanes for easy buckets.
Tapia helped run things in transition with his speed and hit a nice 3 to give the Bloodhounds a big 61-33 lead midway into the third. The score got out of hand after another Martinez 3-pointer put the Bloodhounds up 73-39.
“It is good competition to play against a school like San Benito, especially on the road in a good atmosphere,” Bloodhounds coach Sam Lucio said. “We wanted to get our guys to play against bigger schools to get ready for district.”
Early in the fourth, the Bloodhounds called off the dogs and San Benito made the scoreline a bit more respectable at 79-59.
“It is a good start, I think we need a lot of stuff to work on,” Lucio said. “The boys are putting in a lot of work in the gym, so hopefully we just continue to get better every single day.
“Gerry is a great player, he can score from anywhere on the court, and he is just trying to jell with our guys and he is. He puts in a lot of work every single day in the gym and on his own,” Lucio added.