In Tuesday night’s second game, the Diamondback boys defeated the PSJA North Raiders 53-30 after the girls won by a similar margin. Julian Valdez and Edward Chavez led the Diamondbacks in scoring with 13 and 16 points, respectively. After being tied at nine following the first quarter, the Diamondbacks went on a 12-4 run en route to a 21-13 halftime lead. Both teams struggled to find their footing to start the game. The first half was a showdown of back-and-forth unforced errors. Yet, Valdez, the school’s starting quarterback, controlled the game’s tempo and allowed the Diamondbacks to settle down. His poise and patience were not indicative of someone who had just joined the team less than a month ago.
“We’ve got a lot of football players on the team. And we got them back a little late. So we’re still trying to work them in, condition-wise, shooting. We’re just letting them play ball. That’s the biggest thing. We got a lot of guys’ experience. So we’re just giving them the freedom to make plays,” Pioneer head coach Fernando Rodriguez said.
Mason Lopez’s ten third quarter points sparked the Raiders’ offense and led them on a 12-10 run to start the second half. The Raiders comeback re-energized the crowd. Momentum had shifted in the home team’s favor. In the blink of an eye, the score was 31-25, but tough baskets from Antonio Carrizales Jr. silenced the crowd and halted the Raider’s push to even the score. Aggressive defense from Joshua Gaither and a dominant two-way performance from Edward Chavez shut the door.
“We did a good job coming out in the second half knowing that we didn’t play our best in the first half, and we changed that and competed harder in the second half,” Gather said when asked about the Diamondback’s second-half performance.
“We came out a little slow and at halftime we picked it up. We were picking it up on defense, playing backside, getting out in transition. We take pride in our defense. We play really hard defense, and that results in turnovers and gets us in transition. Hopefully, we keep it up and continue it into district. We gotta go undefeated in district and win a district championship,” Chavez said after the game.
The Diamondbacks will host the McAllen High Bulldogs tonigh... Click here to read full article
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