BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — The No. 1 team in the Valley, McAllen Rowe, stepped up in its toughest test to date.
PSJA North came into McAllen Rowe and seized the momentum early on. McAllen Rowe led for the first few minutes, but when the Raiders took the lead at the 1:37 mark of the first quarter, they took control of the game.
The North 3-pointers started to fall, and the Raiders were up 15-9 after one quarter, and 26-20 at the half.
“In the first half, I saw them a little bit down, they were hesitating to shoot,” Rowe coach Jose Luis Yebra said. “That’s what I did at halftime. I just wanted to make sure they believed in themselves, and had the confidence to shoot the ball.”
Rowe responded by hitting five threes in the second half and holding North to just two from beyond the arc.
The biggest three of the night came from senior guard Mark Medrano, who sunk a beautiful shot with 4:12 left in the fourth quarter. The shot gave Rowe a 41-38 lead, the Warriors’ first lead since 2:01 of the first quarter.
“That 3 felt good, because it told us the game was over,” Medrano said. “We knew we were going to make all of our shots, and it was over.”
Rowe beat North 53-44 in a pivotal District 30-6A matchup. Rowe remains unbeaten in District, while North suffers its second loss in 30-6A.
In the first meeting between the two teams at PSJA North earlier this year, North got into foul trouble. senior Arutro Beltran and sophomore Elijah De La Garza both fouled out before the game was over. On Tuesday night at Rowe, it was the Warriors who found themselves wincing with every foul call. When the game ended, the Warriors had three players with four fouls.
“Some of our kids came off the bench and hit a couple threes, because they were leaving them open,” Yebra said. “Darrin (Everage) did a great job. He did what we asked him to do. I told him to drive and find the shooters. He did, and we were able to come back.”
Josiah Alonso came off the bench and hit a 3, and Jon Elizondo hit a pair of 3s. All three came after the rousing halftime speech.
Medrano, a Weslaco East transfer, has been a difference-maker all year, but not just because of his scoring.
“All of us have to be involved in the defensive rebounds, and I think tonight, (Medrano) kept his head and got the job done,” Yebra said. “We needed to control the boards down low, and he helped us out with that.”
Coach Yebra’s son Louie Yebra was one of the Warrios most affected by foul trouble. The Valley’s James Harden, Daunte Galvan, was able to penetrate and cause havoc in the post. Several of his drives resulted in fouls on Yebra and the other foul-plagued Warriors.
In the fourth quarter, Yebra had a plan to stop the North offense.
“We made an adjustment on defense, and they didn’t have an answer for that in the fourth quarter,” he said.
The adjustment was to double-team Galvan and take away the Raiders favorite 3-point shots. The pan worked to perfection, as the Raiders were held to just nine points in the final frame.
Medrano is a great example of why the Warriors have been so successful. It all started on his first day with the team.
“The first day I got here, the whole team showed me the locker room,” Medrano recalled. “They walked me to lunch, and showed me my classes. They have been great teammates since the very beginning. They made me feel like one of them.”
With an experience like that, Medrano easily bought into the team-first mentality that has boosted the Warriors this year. Watching talented offensive players like Everage, Louie Yebra and Adrian Salinas constantly pass up good shots for a better shot from a teammate made Medrano want to give his max every night for the team.
Medrano’s ability to create turnovers, pass the ball, hit shots and rebound has allowed him to fit right in, something Everage knew would happen even before he arrived.
“We played against him before, and we knew he was a solid player,” Everage said. “But we also knew once he came over here, he could flourish within our system. Him coming over here, it helped us a lot, and it shows how good of player he is.”
The selflessness that surrounds the Warriors program has been a key to their success this year. Everyone is willing to shoot when passed to, and everyone is willing to pass if their teammate is open.
“That comes from our chemistry and the work we do in practice,” forward John Galan said.
“We had a lot of people leave,” Everage said. “We had a lot of people count us out. So we were very accepting from Day 1. We had to make ourselves a team. Doing that brought us together and led to our success.”
Now that the Warriors are beyond both games against PSJA North and McAllen High, the second- and third-place teams in the district, the district title is in their sights.
“We take it one game at a time,” Coach Yebra said. “Our goal at the beginning of the year was to win the district title. This puts us in a great position to do that. Is it going to be easy? No. We still have four teams to play. But, as long as we stay positive and continue to work together, we have a chance to accomplish our goal.”