By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
After a hot streak in district play, Porter ran into a brick wall Tuesday night against Mercedes in a bout between playoff contenders.
Mercedes had superb shooting from the three-point line and buried Porter early to win 86-47 on Tuesday at Porter.
The loss puts Porter at 6-6 in the District 32-5A standings, still in the hunt for a playoff spot.
“It goes back to the preparation,” Porter coach Luis Garza said. “I was telling my assistant when we were sitting over there, ‘Look at these guys, (trying) to dunk the ball.’ Just not focused. Not from the get-go. Mercedes shot the ball really good. It goes back to preparation like I always say. We weren’t focused. We weren’t ready to play. When you do always those things with a team like that, you get your (tails) kicked.”
“We got (a tail) whipping,” Garza added. “We just didn’t play well. We missed layups. We missed free throws. Couldn’t play defense well. It almost felt like we were on quicksand here and they were flying. They were contesting everything.”
Mercedes clinched a trip to the postseason with the win and remained one game back from Pace in the district title race.
Rey Rincon scored a game-high 25 points for Mercedes. Ricky Jimenez scored 15 points, and Jaime Rodriguez had 14.
“Our kids came out from the tip and shot the ball real well,” Mercedes coach Rick Trevino said. “Kids were just hitting (shots), moving the ball real well. They did everything solid today.”
Rey Martinez led Porter with 14 points. Mike Reyes and Brian Salazar each scored six points. It was hard for Porter to keep pace with Mercedes when shots weren’t falling on the other end.
“It affects us on defense as well,” Garza said. “We’re missing these opportunities here, and it seems to have an effect on the defense. They get discouraged. They feel they’re not getting adjusted, then they start pointing fingers at refs and then all these distractions come around. And it makes it almost impossible to compete when (Mercedes is) making shots like that.”
Mercedes made 10 3s during the game, starting the first quarter off with Rodriguez making a shot from beyond the arc to give the Tigers the lead.
The long ball is a stable of the Mercedes offense, which had a better night shooting the ball than usual, Trevino said.
“We try to shoot the 3,” Trevino said. “We average about six 3s a game. We shot a little bit better than normal. We let them shoot (tonight).”
Porter answered with a bucket by Martinez on the other end.
The Cowboys had a hard time making anything else after that and thanks to Mercedes’ accuracy on offense found itself in a 19-6 hole at the end of the first.
Rodriguez scored a bucket on the second quarter’s first possession, and Rincon followed that with a 3 to go up 18 points.
Reyes scored back-to-back layups to bring Porter within 13 points of Mercedes’ lead. Mercedes came back with four points of its own and took a 37-19 lead to halftime.
The closest Porter came to the lead during the second half was after a five-point scoring spurt, which cut Mercedes’ lead to 15 points.
The Tigers responded to that with a 12-2 run and led by 23 heading into the fourth.
Joshua McKinney covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @joshuabvherald.