SAN JUAN — The second day of PSJA ISD’s Tri-City Classic delivered 32 games spread across Pharr, San Juan and Alamo. It also brought basketball fans a rivalry game between the PSJA High Bears and the PSJA Southwest Javelinas in an all-PSJA ISD matchup Friday morning at PSJA High School.
Trailing 22-17 at the break, PSJA High bared down on the Javelinas during the second half as the Bears picked up their full-court pressure and began making Southwest uncomfortable. The 50-50 balls started bouncing PSJA High’s way and the result was allowing just nine second-half points and a 42-31 victory.
“Our effort completely changed from the first half to the second half,” PSJA High junior power forward Rick Salazar said. “Our effort was 200% better and our defense was on point. We started taking charges, we started pressing — we just made them feel uncomfortable, and that’s what helped us win.”
First-year PSJA High head coach Connor Davenport credited the team’s defensive effort for sparking the Bears offensively.
“I think so often we get wrapped up in how we’re playing offensively, and when we struggle offensively, it tends to carry over to the defensive side of the ball. I think the big difference for our kids is that we started seeing the ball go in in the second half,” Davenport said. “Your defense should never be predicated on your offense, but I think oftentimes, every possession becomes so important when you’re not scoring, so you tighten up on defense.
“In the second half, we pressed a little more kids, our kids played a little more free, and we flew around and we created some easy buckets, which helped us, so the kids did a good job executing the plan.”
Another reason the Bears played with a fire to kick off the second day of their Tri-City Tournament against Southwest was they put in work hours before.
Davenport and the Bears weren’t satisfied with the team’s performance on day one, so they held practice early Friday morning before tournament games tipped off.
“It really helped us out because we came here early to practice and that really gave us a fire and momentum that we needed to win today’s game,” PSJA High small forward Josh Loredo said.
Davenport spent the previous seven years as an assistant coach at San Antonio Madison. Now, he’s trying to bring the PSJA High Bears boys basketball team back to prominence.
“They’re buying into what we’re telling them as a coaching staff and they’re getting better every day. And they’re a joy to coach, man, I love being around them,” Davenport said about his team. “Our record doesn’t show it, but in our first five games, we lost them all, and we were either leading or within one or two within all the last games. So, kids are competitive and we’re going to start winning some of those games that we’ve been dropping as they continue to play with more confidence, and as they continue to get better and buy in to what we’re telling them as coaches, and that’s a credit to them for believing in what we’re doing.”
“He’s taught us a lot and he’s turning the program around. He’s going to take us to where we need to be,” Salazar said.
Four teams have a shot at the tournament title today as South San Antonio and Laredo United South square off at 11 a.m, while Weslaco and Laredo LBJ play at 12:30 p.m. Both games will be played at PSJA North High School.
The tournament’s championship game is set for 5 p.m. today at PSJA North, with the third-place game tipping off at 3:30 p.m.