By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — With Ryan Garza relegated to the bench due to foul trouble, Edinburg Vela spent the remainder of the opening half Saturday putting together the pieces.
The SaberCats have managed to keep things afloat despite one of their primary scoring threats, Alec De La Cruz, out with a sprained ACL. But the loss of Garza until the third quarter of the Craig Smith Tournament championship only compounded the problem.
Hector Ruiz slide down to play point guard, and reserve Carlos Azubell stepped up with 19 points off the bench, as Vela beat La Joya Palmview 77-55 at Edinburg High School.
With Garza picking up his second foul midway through the opening quarter, the SaberCats (10-1) in search of scoring options with their facilitator out. Ruiz, the lone remaining piece of Vela’s “Big 3,” stepped in and played point guard, and the SaberCats had four other players shoulder the scoring that quarter.
They led 33-30 at halftime, before outscoring the Lobos 27-11 in the final period, with Michael Garcia scoring 13 points, Ruiz adding 14 and Garza chipping in with 11.
“That’s the beauty of our team,” Edinburg Vela coach Lalo Rios said. “They know that when one guy’s down, it’s not the end of the world. For most teams it is, but not for us. We have guys that can step up and fill those roles, and today was a prime example of hat.”
Ruiz was whistled for a double foul after getting tangled with a defender, at which point Rios sat his junior, hoping to preserve him for later in the game. He returned during the third quarter, scoring on back-to-back possession on driving layups, and he combined with Azubell to score 14 points during the fourth quarter as Vela won the tournament for the second straight year.
Azubell buried a corner 3 and followed with a layup, and Garza attacked the basket, absorbed contact and tossed in a shot, giving Vela a 73-51 cushion after completing the three-point play.
“Carlos Azubell just pumped us up,” said Ruiz, who earned tournament MVP honors. “He doesn’t really score. So when he did today, it just pumped us up.”
The turnaround dampened what had otherwise been a solid showing for Palmview (6-2), which returns only two players, none of those starters.
The Lobos went up 16-6 with 3:34 to play in the first quarter as Armando Alaniz scored on consecutive outlet passes. He finished with 15 points, draining three 3s, and Damian Quintanilla added 11. But it was the play of Jacob Salinas, who scored a game-high 21 points, that kept Palmview within striking distance, trailing 50-44 going into the fourth quarter.
“They’re great ball club,” Palmview coach Andy Saenz said. “We had our chances, we went down swinging. Unfortunately, we had some kids fold under the pressure, but that’s my fault. I haven’t prepared them. I take responsibility for the loss. I have to better prepare them for the long haul.
“I’ll just say this. Jacob Salinas deserves a lot of credit. That kid put his heart and soul into it. Unfortunately, some other kids didn’t show up to play when the game was on the line. But you know what? They played as hard as they could.”