PHARR — Saturday marked the final day of PSJA ISD’s Tri-City Classic, and while plenty of Rio Grande Valley teams hit the hardwood in Pharr, San Juan and Alamo, the Rio Grande Valley was represented by a lone team in the final four of the tournament — the Weslaco High Panthers.
With a spot in the championship game up for grabs, Weslaco went down to the wire in its semifinal matchup, beating Laredo LBJ 58-57 before losing to South San Antonio 41-32 in the tournament championship game.
Laredo LBJ appeared in control with a seven-point lead and half of the final quarter gone, but the Panthers rallied back with three straight baskets to cut the Wolves’ advantage to 55-54.
Needing another bucket, the Panthers fed the ball to their big-man J.J. Balderas, who converted a two-point field goal right at the rim for a 56-55 Weslaco lead.
The Wolves responded by knocking down two free throws to pull ahead with 18.8 seconds left, so Weslaco went right back to Balderas. With 13 seconds remaining, Josh Rodriguez delivered the entry pass to Balderas on the right block. The junior center took one dribble with his back to the basket, spun over his right shoulder and rose up to drain the game-winning shot on a short jumper with just 10 seconds left in the game.
“I just saw the matchup that I had and took advantage of it and came up with the hoop,” Balderas said of his game-winner.
“J.J. plays a big part of our team. He’s back from last year. We have other bigs that can help him too, so we bring some of our guys off the bench to alleviate him. But if he’s performing, he’s performing. He’s good at it,” Weslaco High head coach Gabriel Valdez said.
Laredo LBJ failed to get off a good shot and the Panthers advanced to the championship game of the PSJA ISD Tri-City Classic with a 58-57 win. Balderas and Flavio Bolaños combined to score 30 points for the Panthers.
In the tournament finale, the Panthers stayed competitive against South San Antonio going into the locker room trailing by just three points. But in the second half, the South San Bobcats pulled away to earn first-place with a 41-32 win over Weslaco.
“We got better throughout this whole tournament. We showed the potential that we have this year and we should be a good team,” Balderas said.
Valdez said although he has an inexperienced squad, the guys are starting to come around and understand the system.
“The kids play hard and I’m blessed to have the guys that I have. They like to be coached and taught, and I’m really happy with our performance today in the semi-finals, hopefully it can continue,” Valdez said.
The PSJA ISD Tri-City Classic all-tournament team featured four Rio Grande Valley players in Weslaco High’s J.J. Balderas and Flavio Bolaños, and Sharyland Pioneer’s MiguelAngel Gonzalez and Seth Rodriguez. South San Antonio’s Manuel Paredez was named the Most Valuable Player, while his teammates Jonas Carsile, Derrick Sanchez and Christopher Ricondo nabbed all-tourney honors. Laredo United South’s Andy Cisneros and Raul Pedraza, and Laredo LBJ’s Chris Merino were also named to the all-tourney team.
The final day of the Tri-City Classic also delivered an all-PSJA nail-biter between PSJA Memorial and PSJA North in the winner’s consolation bracket as the Wolverines clawed their way to a 54-52 victory on their home floor. PSJA Memorial went on to face Laredo Martin in the fifth-place game, falling 60-57.
Another must-see tournament matchup pitted Sharyland Pioneer against Rio Grande City, two teams who shared the District 31-5A title as co-champs, in the consolation championship game.
The Diamondbacks attacked with a 3-point barrage as Pioneer sunk 12 shots from beyond the arc on their way to a 77-57 win. MiguelAngel Gonzalez led the Diamondbacks with 23 points, while Derek Luna added 17 in just three quarters of action.