BY DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
Edinburg Vela boys basketball coach Lalo Rios made it clear to his team what its goal was well before the start of the 2015-16 season.
State or bust.
“(It was) our mindset the minute we lost at regionals last year,” Rios said. “There was nothing else. You may not believe it, but every day we broke our huddle, since the day we lost at regionals, we broke it at ‘state!’
“Last year, we broke everything at “regionals!’ and we got there. This year, we said we’re not going to set the bar at regionals, we’re going to set it at state.”
Thursday, the SaberCats join Donna High, Edinburg High, Harlingen High, Roma, Santa Rosa and Sharyland High as the only Rio Grande Valley boys basketball programs to make it to the UIL state tournament. Santa Rosa was the last program to do it, in 2008-2009. Harlingen High has made the tournament six times, Santa Rosa three times and Roma twice.
Sharyland High was the last upper or mid-Valley team to make it to state, falling to Dimmitt in 1977-78. Vela is the Valley team from the largest classification (Class 5A) to make it to state.
“So what makes a quality team that can handle the pressures, adversities and achieve a level of state?” said Dan Townsend, a starter on the 1978 Rattlers team. “It begins with the coach who plants a seed of ‘We’re going to do this, boys.’ Vic Benter told us at the beginning of the season we were going to state. Period.”
That’s where it started as well for the No. 8 SaberCats as they go against No. 3-state ranked and defending state champ Lancaster in the 5A state semifinal at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
“We made them believe every day we were going to state,” Rios said. “In practices, we told them, ‘If you want to go to state, you have to do this. If you want to go to state, you have to do that.’ So from the very get-go, the talk and the focus was always state.”
‘WE WILL WIN THIS’
Vela has three players scoring in double figures, led by Ryan Garza’s 18.3 points per game. The SaberCats go 10 deep in the rotation and return 10 players from last year’s regional semifinalist.
The experience and depth is key at this time of the season. Like Vela, Roma, Sharyland and Santa Rosa did not boast size, but had shooting, speed and balance. Vela’s Luis Salinas is the SaberCats’ tallest rotation player at 6-foot-3, but the SaberCats have rangy, attacking athletes like the Gladiators, Rattlers and Warriors did.
“In 2009, we were pretty average,” said Santa Rosa coach Juan Cipriano, who led the Warriors team in 2008-2009 and whose 2015-16 edition finished two points shy of another trip to state. “Our tallest guy was Aaron Ramirez, who was 6-2. But we could jump out of the gym. You can make up for lack of size by being in the right spot at the right time.”
The 2009 and 2016 Warriors were balanced teams that received production throughout the lineup. The 1978 Rattlers had four players who averaged double-figures in scoring. The lone outlier was the 1972 Roma team that relied heavily upon three-time all-state selection Jesus “Chuy” Guerra, who averaged 26 points.
Another common thread between Vela and past Valley state teams is scheduling. Santa Rosa, Roma and Sharyland High were Class 2A programs who played a heavy non-district schedule against teams from Class 4A, then the top classification in the UIL. Cipriano, Guerra and James Laffoon, a junior post on the 1978 Rattlers, agreed their respective teams did not realize their potential until winning tournament games against 4A teams.
Vela’s non-district schedule this season included contests against Class 6A teams San Antonio MacArthur and San Antonio Jay, regional power Laredo Alexander, and Valley playoff teams La Joya Palmview and Edinburg North.
“We told the kids at regionals, we’re coming back next year,” Rios said. “What hurt us last year was the lack of experience. And so I could see the kids believe that when I explained we had 10 guys back, I think they bought into that. We told them we will win this.”
GOTTA DANCE
No Valley boys basketball team has won a game at the UIL state tournament. That’s where Vela has a chance to make history.
“They’re going to walk into a gigantic facility and it’s so massive, even the basket looks different,” Laffoon said. “You’re used to playing in a small gym in the Valley and you don’t realize it’s going to be a very important part of your life.”
With Vela being in Roma’s district, Guerra has had a chance to watch the SaberCats this year. He and former teammate Jaime Escobar, brother of current Roma coach Abel Escobar, agree that Vela has impressively developed a style of play that works.
“They’re very balanced,” Guerra said. “They’re deep and they can run you. They score a lot of different ways and are fundamentally sound. I feel they have a good chance. They force you to play basketball at their style.”
Townsend said the Rattlers got by on three principles: team, defense and passing. Vela’s principles are similar. It’s a team-oriented philosophy centered around pace, attack and a five-in, five-out substitution pattern that requires responsibility from everyone.
Guerra can appreciate the exciting style of basketball. The SaberCats have scored 100 points three times this season, but Guerra’s 1972 Gladiators, without a 3-point line to use, scored in triple-digits seven times.
“They have created their formula on how to play the game, and they’re executing to the max,” Guerra said. “It’s an amazing job.”
Now the job is to finish.
“They belong there, and it’s an opportunity of a lifetime,” Escobar said. “At the end of the day, what’s meant to be is meant to be. If they’re there, they might as well dance.”