By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
There’s always history when the Brownsville Pace Vikings and McAllen Rowe Warriors face off, and that brings out the best in both teams.
Tuesday night’s game was no different as the Vikings and coach Jose Luis Ramirez hosted the Warriors and coach Jose Luis Yebra. Yebra played for Pace back in the day, and Ramirez was his assistant before taking over the Vikings program.
Pace came out of the gate ready to roll against the powerhouse Warriors program and led through the first half. But a strong second half carried the Warriors to a 71-51 victory.
“Any time we play a team like that, because one could argue that is the best team in the Valley right now, I’ve always said, ‘When little brother plays big brother, little brother gets better,’” Ramirez said. “It was about us trying to figure things out, and there’s no better test than going against the top teams. We take a lot of pride when we play (Rowe). It’s a pride game, but it’s also a very respectful game. I have a lot of respect for what (Yebra) does and what his program does, and we’re just trying to live up to it.”
Despite Rowe’s significant height advantage, the Vikings controlled the paint during the first quarter. Pace’s quick hands on defense deflected and intercepted passes, and its aggressive play led to outrebounding the longer Warriors.
Vicente Sanchez’s effort down low helped the Vikings open an 8-2 lead. The smooth shooting of Dax Delgado and Alexis Ramirez contributed to Pace holding a 15-7 lead after the first 12 minutes. Delgado hit two 3-pointers and Ramirez had one in the opening quarter.
The tempo picked up during the second quarter, especially on Rowe’s possessions. The Warriors drove to the basket with more intention and finished inside the paint to close Pace’s lead to 19-17 midway through the second frame.
Rowe’s full-court press started challenging the Pace point guards and throwing the Vikings off balance. The Warriors put together some scoring runs to try and gain the advantage, sparked by the speed and ball control of Darren Manriquez, but Pace maintained a 30-29 lead at halftime. Sanchez, Ramirez and Tyler Rudder played well to keep the Vikings on top.
The quiet gym allowed all in attendance to hear the impassioned speeches being delivered in the visitor’s locker room by Rowe. Yebra said he wanted more effort from his team, and the Warriors delivered in the second half.
Rowe outscored Pace 25-9 to take a comfortable lead in the third quarter and dominated the second half. Its full-court press was stifling and the Warriors controlled the boards on both ends, led by Louie Yebra and Elijah Alcantar.
“They message was that we needed to play better defense,” Jose Luis Yebra said. “We were just kind of out there, jogging up and down the floor, and I felt there was no aggressiveness. They were just playing passive and I wanted to get them fired up and to play harder, and they did. That’s our team, we respond.”
The Warriors were on an 11-0 scoring run to start the second half before Delgado hit his third 3-pointer to end Pace’s drought. Delgado finished with a team-high 14 points. Rudder (13 points), Sanchez (10 points) and Ramirez (eight points) kept the Vikings fighting until the final whistle, but Rowe’s deeper bench pushed the tempo of the game, and Pace couldn’t make a dent in the deficit.
Pace had two ball-handlers out due to injury in the game, which Rowe exposed with its full-court pressure, and is missing some playmakers who are still tied up with football.
“(In the first half) we were closing out hard, boxing out hard. Energy level was high,” Ramirez said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a deep bench so we ran out of gas. We didn’t have the same intensity defensively in the second half, and they were able to control the boards. I’m still very proud of the effort. Even towards the end, they were still attacking and held themselves in check.”
As the energy picked up, the Rowe shooters started sinking shots with precision. The Warriors showed range by hitting from behind the arc and feeding the ball inside to Emiliano Gudino, who scored eight of his 14 points during the big third quarter to aid the turn in momentum.
Manriquez led all scorers with 16 points, and Louie Yebra and Alcantar added 11 and nine, respectively, to help the Warriors get the win.
“I thought the effort defensively was the difference,” Jose Luis Yebra said. “We didn’t have that effort in the first half. Everything that we did, we did in the first and second half, except we were not doing it with the same amount of effort. The offense is going to come if you play defense. Shooting got better, and we ended up doing the job.”