LORI VERMAAS | Special to The Star
LOS FRESNOS — Andre Nunley, starting point guard for the Euless Trinity Trojans, smiled as a team trainer helped him tie bulging bags of ice to his knees.
“Yes ma’am, I’ll be fine,” he said.
It was all in a game’s work for the two-year varsity player, whose smooth and assured leadership secured a solid 61-50 victory over the Harlingen High Cardinals on Friday night in the second round of the Tournament of Champions in Los Fresnos.
Launching numerous bounce passes along the baseline and deftly dribbling out of the press to set up more scoring opportunities, Nunley led all scorers with 19 points.
“He’s a coach’s dream,” beamed Trinity coach Mark Villines, whose District 3-6A Metroplex team from North Texas gave the Cardinals all the aggressive half-court, man-to-man play they could handle. “He’s our floor general, the hardest worker. Coachable. He makes us take off. As you can see, we hardly took him off the court.”
Led by Nunley, the Trojans’ penetrating play and team speed repeatedly stymied the Cards early and helped them stake a 10-point lead after the first quarter. In the second, a couple of Cardinals 3s by trey-maestro Antonio Aguilar helped to close the gap to 7 and threatened to spur a swing in momentum, but numerous missed opportunities (including foul shots) by the Red Birds spoiled their comeback.
Well, that and some of Nunley’s well-timed stepped-up play, most dramatically including an impressive behind-the-back, halfcourt dribble/layup combination with 1:30 left in the half.
“He’s pretty fast,” admitted Cardinals coach Greg Yates, who earlier saw Nunley’s wizardry win him the slam-dunk contest.
“We’ve just got to get better,” Yates added, though he felt good about the team’s effort. “I thought our kids did an outstanding job keeping up with their speed. I was happy with all the heart and desire we showed.”
This is the Trojans’ first trip to the Rio Grande Valley, courtesy of Villines’ connection with San Antonio Reagan coach John Hirst, a former Los Fresnos coach. “He’s a good friend, we go way back, 15 years.”
But Villines had other reasons, too.
“It’s a long drive from the Dallas area, but we needed the team bonding, so I decided why not?” he said. “Why not come to (South Padre) Island? That’s where we’re staying. Tonight we’re going to eat at Blackbeard’s.”