BY TJ GARCIA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
McALLEN — Freshman Jose Luis Yebra snared an unlikely offensive rebound with 18.9 seconds left, then drained the game-winning shot 13 seconds later to lift McAllen Rowe to a huge come-from-behind victory over McAllen Memorial 48-47 on Friday night at the Mustangs’ gym.
The tense, tough game between two of the best teams in the Valley was all that it was billed to be. In-your-face defense, hard fouls, circus shots and an awfully large amount of pride on floor. But in the end, the Warriors’ (19-8, 6-0) victory gives them a two-game lead in District 30-6A with just five games remaining.
Despite the loss, Memorial (19-8, 4-2) is almost assured a playoff spot, but the Mustangs struggled late in the game and yielded a big rebound when it counted most.
After Darrin Everage missed the back end of two free throws, Yebra, 6-foot-2, snuck inside Memorial’s All-Valley 6-foot-4 forward Josh Sanchez and pulled down the ball. The Warriors immediately called timeout to preserve possession.
A play was called for Rowe leading scorer Derek Luna, but the Mustangs defended it well. After some quick passes, the ball was whipped to Yebra, who was open on the right baseline 8 feet out. He rose up and swooshed the ball through the net with seven seconds left as 500 Rowe fans exploded behind him.
“Our coaches tell us, ‘You have to box out, no matter what.’ You can never give up on a game like this. (Sanchez) is a great player, and he tried to cut me off on the left, so I backed up and went back in, and he went out to the left. Then, the ball just dribbled down into by hands,” Yebra said. “I have been putting in all this work, all this work, and I feel like I deserved that shot. It felt great.”
The Mustangs couldn’t get a shot off during the remaining seven seconds, and the Warriors celebrated after the final buzzer. Yebra finished with seven points on the night, and Derek Luna — who only shot 6 of 16 from the floor and 4 of 9 from the free-throw line — led the Warriors with 18 points and six rebounds.
Chris Melendez was the only Mustang in double figures with 10, but Sanchez, Ace Chavez and Brett Baus added nine points each. Sanchez also pitched in a game-leading 19 rebounds and three blocks. Rowe’s team defense on Sanchez him in check and denied him the ball, as the senior went just 3 for 7 from the field.
The teams were even for most of the first half before a 30-foot 3-point basket by Meledez as the intermission buzzer sounded gave the Mustangs a 27-24 lead.
During the third quarter, six Warriors combined to score 13 points, but Rowe still trailed Memorial 40-37 at the end of the period after Flores hit another buzzer-beater for the Mustangs. That set up the fourth quarter, during which Luna and Adrian Bernal helped rally Rowe within 47-46 before Yebra’s heroics.
“This is something you looked forward to playing in, and I know the kids look around. They want to be the one to take the last shot,” Rowe coach Jose Luis Yebra said. “You know, any one of the five we had in there could have taken that shot, and taken a good shot. Thank God it went it in. But that rebound was key. It’s all our kids in our program. They all have that fight and don’t want to give up.”