BY TJ GARCIA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
PHARR — Three straight weekends, three straight tournaments and about 20 games played.
For most high school teams, that’s half the season. For the Weslaco Panthers, it’s their reality, and one that they’ve survived relatively unscathed as one the Rio Grande Valley’s best teams.
But on Saturday, the Panthers (17-4) ran into a hot-shooting Laredo Alexander team in the Tri-City Classic Tournament championship and lost 60-55 with dead legs and a bad fourth quarter.
The Alexander Bulldogs, one of South Texas’ top teams, hit 10 first-half 3-pointers (13 in all) and played well enough in the second half to turn back a late Weslaco rally and take home the trophy.
“We could have played better defense. Guys were getting by us, and they were kicking out to the open man, and they were making everything tonight,” Weslaco senior guard Jordan Young said. “We are going to learn from this and progress on to district. In this tournament, we played a lot of tough teams. We made it to the championship, didn’t get first, but it doesn’t get much better than that.”
The Panthers never lead in the contest and at one point were down 31-12 in the second quarter. Alexander, behind its sizzling perimeter shooting, had the Panthers on their heels before Weslaco began dumping the ball inside to 6-foot-4 post Justice Free for easy baskets.
Later in the third quarter, Young started to heat up with consecutive threes with a layup. Paired with Free’s baskets, the Panthers were suddenly back in the game, trailing 51-46 at the end of the third quarter. Alexander also went cold, managing just one trey in the third as the Panthers ramped up their defense.
After four straight Free baskets, Weslaco tied the game at 54 with 3 minutes left to play. But that was about all the Panthers could do. Alexander hit two straight buckets and turned the Panthers over twice before the teams exchanged free throws and the buzzer sounded. Free’s four hoops were the only field goals Weslaco could muster in the fourth as the Panthers went 4 of 13 from the floor and fatigue finally began to show.
Weslaco coach Gabe Pena said he was proud of his team and it performed well in the tournament, despite challenges.
“There were some situations where we did not execute as we should have, and we dropped one to (McAllen) Memorial, and I don’t think we should have dropped that one,” Pena said. “But we gained some valuable experience as far as our team as a whole getting ready for district play.”
Free, normally not a big scorer, exploded for 25 points on 12-of-14 shooting and pulled down 8 rebounds. Alexander, more a finesse team, could not match Free’s inside power game. Meanwhile, Young ended with 15 points and 5 steals and Braxton Bloomquist added 8 points.