By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
SAN ANTONIO — Within a matter of moments, the energy was sucked out of Edinburg Vela.
Whatever pep it had in its step, whatever burst had guided it down the court, was gone.
The SaberCats had their way for 16 minutes Friday before simply running out of gas. They were out-manned, out-hustled and out-shot in a momentum-shifting third quarter, as San Antonio Sam Houston ran away with a 66-58 win at the Blossom Athletic Center.
For all that went well for Vela (31-7) through the opening half, it simply wasn’t enough to withstand a determined Hurricanes team that outscored the SaberCats 24-11 in the third quarter and 46-28 in the second half of their regional quarterfinal game.
“They just wanted it more,” Vela’s Hector Ruiz said.
It seemed that way during the third quarter as the SaberCats’ 10-point halftime lead turned into a three-point deficit. All the shots Sam Houston missed during the opening half suddenly started to fall. The number of turnovers it committed began to shrink. And the SaberCats hardly had any answer, hitting only four field goals that quarter to Sam Houston’s 11.
“I feel like we ran out of gas a little bit,” Vela’s Ryan Garza said. “We went so hard just to keep up with them in the first half, some of us ran out of gas in the second and we didn’t come out with that same fire.”
In the first half, he added, “We came out like we weren’t afraid of them. We knew they weren’t better than us; we knew we were better than them as long as we did what we did best, which is run and gun.”
Vela used that formula to hit a series of benchmarks this season, its third in existence. The SaberCats won 31 games (seven more than last season), breaking past the second round. They won a share of the District 31-5A title and were one of just four Valley schools competing in the UIL regional semifinals Friday.
Like their counterparts, they fell short in the fourth round. And the reason for it did not require extensive breaking down of film. It was clear to Vela and everyone involved.
“They came out more aggressive than we did,” SaberCats coach Lalo Rios said. “I thought we did a great job of dictating the tempo and being the aggressor (during the first half), and it just flipped on us.”
Vela found success pressing through the first two quarters. They tried running at a breakneck pace, substituting five players at a time to keep fresh legs. And to their credit, the bench did its part to help the SaberCats build a 30-20 lead at the break.
But Sam Houston (16-13) was more assertive after intermission, and doubt began seeping in the minds of Vela’s players.
“They started barking in our face, clapping,” said Ruiz, who was held to six points. “It was just their energy.”
Ruiz came up well short of his season average of 13.9 points per game. As did his teammate, Garza, one of the Valley’s leading scorers, who finished with 10 points..
Mark Castillo and Alec De La Cruz stepped up, contributing 12 apiece.
Devin Allen carried Clemens, pouring in a game-high 17 points.
“They’ve been here before,” Garza said about Clemens, which appeared in the state tournament last year. “This was our first time here, being our third year, but now we know what it takes. Come back stronger next year. We’ll know what to do.”