By EDWARD SEVERN, Staff Writer
PORT ISABEL — The Port Isabel Tarpons basketball team is the defending District 32-4A champion and went four rounds deep in the playoffs last season.
Under first-year coach Gilbert Rodriguez, the Tarpons yearn for the same success as they had the past few seasons. This team is capable, as it is loaded with experienced seniors and some exciting underclassmen.
“This year, our goal is to make it back to the Sweet 16 and advance further,” Rodriguez said. “A district championship would be nice, but it is not our main goal. The expectations have been set, and with the talent in this group we can go far.”
Rodriguez was an assistant for nine years at Port Isabel before getting the head coaching job and attributes his mentality to former Tarpons coach Mike Hazelton.
“(Hazelton) was a really good mentor,” Rodriguez said. “We want to have that big-picture mentality. Every game is geared towards that mentality.”
Rodriguez said he has two starting lineups at Port Isabel. Seniors Gilbert Medina, Joey Rico, Kaiden Martinez, Josue Navarro, Luis Martinez and Danny Zamarron were all on the squad that went to the fourth round last season.
All of them are solid basketball players and athletes.
The Tarpons are 3-1 in district, with their only loss coming at the hands of the Raymondville Bearkats 58-57 on Tuesday night in Raymondville. The loss stung, but the Tarpons are eyeing a deep run in the playoffs.
“I don’t think we should have lost last night against Raymondville,” Zamarron said. “We got into some foul trouble, but other than that we are good.”
Said Kaiden Martinez, “We want to make a deep playoff run. Either get back to where we were last year or go further. We have been building chemistry and starting to come together to get stronger on offense and defense. We should be able to get it going by the time the playoffs come.”
Junior Rudy Barrera is joined by talented sophomore Jeffrey Smith and freshmen Christian and Cleveland Smith to round out the Tarpons’ roster.
“The season is going pretty good so far. We maybe need a bit more chemistry and do a little better on defense,” said Jeffrey Smith, who is also returning from last season’s team. “We want to make a deep run for sure.”
Port Isabel went 9-1 in district last season. Their only loss in district last season was at Raymondville.
The Tarpons will look to get back on track in district when they play host to Hidalgo on Friday.