Out-of-towners steal spotlight at Day 2 of IHS tourney
IMPERIAL — Day one of the Tiger Classic saw the Imperial High School gymnasium play the part of happy hunting ground for two local schools, as both Imperial and Calexico were able to grab blowout wins for themselves.
On Wednesday things weren’t quite so cozy for Valley-based hoopers.
Both Brawley in the early game and Southwest later on suffered what amounted to agonizing defeats against non-local teams, though the flavor of that agony varied somewhat.
For the Wildcats, it was the agony of being stunted on.
Technically they played Indio, but it sounds much better to say Indio played them — like a fiddle.
The game was not much of a contest. Indio’s starters were perma-benched before the start of the fourth quarter, with the Rajahs up 4311.
They would go on to win 49-22 after a very junior-varsity final frame.
Brawley looked incredibly young out there. Indio was able to funnel them into corners for traps at will, and the Wildcats didn’t know how to respond.
Poor communication abounded, with passes regularly sailing to nobody.
The result isn’t entirely surprising, as the Wildcats appeared to have integrated some JV and freshman team players for this game, but it has to be somewhat demoralizing nonetheless.
After Brawley shuffled off the court it was Southwest’s go.
They lined up against the Centro de Enseñanza Técnica Y Superior University Zorros, the international team of mystery out of Mexicali.
Nobody in the stands seemed quite sure what to expect out of them, but they turned out to be fairly formidable.
Unlike in the Brawley game, the two teams turned out to be relative equals.
They were nearly of a size, tended to sit in similar 2-3 zones, and had rotations of similar depth.
CETYS was more aggressive on defense — their point guard, Eduardo Mendoza, is pretty good at poking, one-on-one — and had more transition baskets, but Southwest was the better shooting team and plays at a steadier pace.
This allowed them to build an early advantage. At halftime the Eagles led 35-23, and could’ve played .500 ball the rest of the game and come away with a ho-hum win. Unfortunately that wasn’t how it played out. The third quarter was mostly a stalemate and would’ve ended 45-33 (or 10-10 for the quarter) were it not for a buzzer-beating NBA range three by Mendoza after an Eagles’ turnover in the corner as the clock was winding down.
The miracle shot seemed to energize the Zorros. Mendoza came out in the fourth and was feeling it.
He hit two more threes in short order (including a step back), bringing his team within six.
Soon his teammates joined in. Everything was falling, flip shots, finger rolls, spot-up jumpers … everything.
CETYS got some calls to go their way and benefited from some Eagle turnovers and all of a sudden it was 47-46, Zorros.
Southwest never got the lead back.
The final score was CETYS 56, Southwest 53.