BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
LA JOYA — Playing basketball for Sharyland High School is really fun, again.
Over the last couple years, wins have been hard to come by for the Rattlers, and enjoyment has been an even bigger rarity.
This year, though, the Rattlers are winning games, and having a blast doing it.
“When you start winning like how we are, I mean, you can’t ever be content, but it is super fun,” senior guard Maruo Fernandez said. “You get to see people smile, whenever you finish a game. People are proud of you. More people start showing up to the games.”
The Rattlers picked up another non-district win on Tuesday night, beating La Joya High 66-51.
“Winning helps out a lot,” Sharyland coach Danny Moran said. “The guys are happy. They are feeding off of each other. Practices are different. They are learning to win, and it feels good to win. They understand it, they are getting hungry, and hopefully, that carries over to the district season.”
One major change shaped the team. Junior McAllen High transfer Nazier Moore joined the Rattlers this year, and he has changed the shape of the team.
Last year, Fernandez had the ball in his hand for almost every possession. He would only come out of the game for a minute or two, before he would be subbed back in.
“It was like a weight lifted off of all of our backs,” Fernandez said. “(Moore) takes a huge weight off of everyone’s back. He knows how to distribute the ball. He knows how to get people open, he can drive and kick. He knows how to do just about everything on the court, and we are really glad to have him on the team.”
Moore is a phenomenal player in his own right. Against La Joya, Moore scored 25, including three 3-pointers. He had at least eight steals in the game. In the third quarter, he scored eight of Sharyland’s ten points.
But, Moore hasn’t just changed the game for himself.
One of the hardest things for the Rattlers over the last few years was the talk they heard. Whether it was form their stands, road stands, kids in the halls at school or even players on the court, they always heard negativity.
Fernandez got it a lot. Whatever he did was never enough.
“It kind of took a toll, because, I started doubting myself, thinking maybe we are not as good as we could be,” Fernandez said of the losing. “Having to have the ball in your hands the whole game, and playing both sides of the ball, people doubt you all the time. They say you can’t play d, not knowing how tiring it is. I understand that, and this year I am trying to step up, way more, on defense.”
So far, that has paid off, as Fernandez has become a lock down defender. While, Moore put on a steals clinic Tuesday, the entire team has a knack for diving into passing lanes, taking passing swipes on the ball-handler, and prying the ball loose.
“Our coach knows we can shoot the ball well,” junior guard Johnny Escamilla said. “So, we focus a lot on defense in practice. We run this new type of defense that he showed us last year, and we are just implementing it.”
On Tuesday, Escamilla added 12 points, and Fernandez had 13. Junior forward Santiago Rodriguez led the way for the Coyotes with 14 points.
The Coyotes have a young team, and a lot of the players are still learning to play together. However, Coyotes coach Eric Montalvo has always been known as one of the top coaches in the Valley, and his imprint is already starting to show. The Coyotes went to the locker room at halftime down 12, 38-26. Out of the half, La Joya went on a 9-2 run to cut the lead to five, and force a Sharyland timeout.
“We came out a little flat,” Moran said. “I told them that they were going to come out swinging and hitting a couple threes. We are young, and we are learning.”
That was when Moore really started to take over. The steals started to pile up first.
“I got like six in a row,” Moore said. “I felt like I was on their team, because they kept giving me the ball.”
Then came the barrage of scoring for Moore. He scored 17 of his 25 points in the second half.
“After I made that layup and that three, I looked up at my dad in the stands and said, ‘my hand is hot, you have to get me some ice,’” he added with a chuckle.
The joy is infectious in the Rattlers’ locker room, but the work ethic is even more prevalent.
“Coming into the season, we knew we were going to have a lot of guys that can do different things,” Moran said. “Now that we have a full coaching staff here, we are able to work different lineups. We have our pressing group, we have our slow-down half-court group. If we have to run, we have a group to do that. We are able to mix in different guys, and use their assets to our advantage. Everybody is buying into it. It’s good to see the unselfishness on the team.”