By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — Sean Tucker has heard rumblings about what people think about Sharyland High.
That there might be a drop-off this season after losing 11 seniors. That the Rattlers might not be able to compete for a District 31-5A once again.
And even though it was just the first game of the year on Tuesday, Tucker was fired up throughout as he poured in 19 points to lead Sharyland to a 57-54 win over McAllen Rowe.
“It’s a great way to open the season,” Tucker said. “A lot of people doubted us, but we showed we could hang with the big boys. We can’t get overconfident, though. We can’t get complacent. We just have to keep pushing hard the rest of the way.”
These opportunities were scarce last year for Tucker, a role player who averaged 4.9 points per game in 2014-15. But as a newly appointed team captain, the junior is being counted on this season to deliver. On Tuesday, he used a Euro step on a couple of instances to curl around the Rowe defense, toss in a scoop shot, and gesture “count it” as the officials blew their whistle and the ball dropped in the basket.
He scored four times from the field, and went 11 of 13 from the foul line, including two straight with 12.2 seconds left to secure the win.
“Monster,” Sharyland coach David Keith said. “He’s processing the leadership part, where he’s becoming more of a vocal guy on the court, wanting the ball. He demanded the ball on that last possession. ‘No matter what, just give me the ball. I’ll finish it for us.’
“He had some things maybe not go his way, but he came right back to center line and hit some free throws to win the game.”
Jacob Olivarez came up big for the Rattlers, as well, scoring 10 of his game-high 21 points during the fourth quarter to fend off Rowe.
“That guy played a beast of a game,” Keith said.
The Warriors were down 35-34 entering the fourth quarter, but they came within 55-54 with 13.9 seconds to play, after Kaleb Garza (14 points) hit a corner 3.
They came up empty down the stretch, though, highlighting a series of missed opportunities. Alex Keith, for one, was assessed a technical foul with 1:59 to play after showing his pleasure to an official, and Tucker used that opportunity to bury two free throws to put Sharyland ahead by 3 late in the game.
“Just mental mistakes at the end cost us with critical calls here and there, as far as how my kids reacted,” Rowe coach Jose Luis Yebra said. “We have to correct those things.”