By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Rey Rincon has come to accept one certainty each time Mercedes steps on the basketball court: it will undoubtedly field the shortest team in any head-to-head matchup.
That was precisely the case Tuesday as the Tigers opened the playoffs against Roma. The Gladiators boasted an inside threat with 6-foot-3 JR Sepulveda that Mercedes struggled to contain, at times. But the 5-foot-7 Rincon ignited the Tigers’ uptempo offense, pouring in a game-high 31 points to lead Mercedes to a 61-58 win at Mission High School.
“Everybody in the Valley’s taller than us,” said Rincon, whose team lacks any 6-footers this season. “We just have to play fundamental basketball. That means running the floor, getting transition points. Basically just using our speed.”
Though Roma did its part to push the pace Tuesday, especially during the fourth quarter, Mercedes was relentless with its attack, led by Rincon, who finished the regular season as one of the Valley’s top 10 scorers.
Rincon also came up big from the foul line, particularly during the final period, when Mercedes hit only two field goals. Ten of its 14 points came from free throws, as the junior guard converted all five of his attempts during that sequence to help fend off Roma.
He delivered on a night in which he pulled a muscle in his left calf inside of two minutes to play, and proceeded to close out the game nonetheless. Rincon drained two free throws with 38.9 seconds left to play as Mercedes took a 60-57 edge.
The next time down, Rincon collapsed on Sepulveda inside and slapped the ball away from the Gladiators’ big.
“Rey has done a lot for us all year long,” Mercedes coach Rick Treviño said. “That’s what we expect from him now, and that’s what he does every game.”
With Rincon leading the charge, the Tigers were able to post their first playoff victory in six years, setting up an area-round battle against Laredo Nixon at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Zapata. Though no other player for Mercedes (21-13) scored in double figures, it had balanced efforts from Ryan Reyes (7 points), Jaime Rodriguez (7), Ricky Jimenez (6) and David Gobellan (6).
“They shot the ball well and hustled,” Roma coach Abelardo Escobar said. “They had a better showing at the guard play than we did, and I give them a lot of credit for that.”
Even as Mercedes led after every quarter, Roma closed the gap during the fourth period, when it outscored the Tigers 22-14. The Gladiators (14-19) entered the fourth trailing 47-36, but they had five different players to help trim the deficit.
Abel Adolfo Escobar scored 5 of 16 points during that sequence, and Jaime Martinez finished with 12 points. Still, the Gladiators failed to capitalize from the free-throw line, where it converted 5 of 11 attempts during the fourth quarter, as Mercedes made 10 of 14.
It also helped that the Tigers settled into their zone defense — contrary to their usual man-to-man set — and denied Roma opportunities down the stretch.
“We wanted to really protect the inside, and we knew they had shooters,” Treviño said. “So we thought, they have shooters whether they’re in a man or zone, so might we well pack it in with a zone and sprint out to the shooters, and that’s really what helped.”