The Varsity Mustangs competed in the Nixon Smiley Tournament over December 27 and 28. We struggled offensively throughout most of the tournament. I thought we had some great looks in all of our games and were in most of the games throughout the first half but turnovers put us in some bad situations and we were not able to recover.
We opened up the Nixon-Smiley tournament against a well-coached Marion team. After cutting the lead to 6 with about 3 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, a series of turnovers would allow Marion to go on a 13-0 run to finish the quarter and put the game out of reach. Enrique DeOsio led all scorers with 8 points on 4/10 shooting.
Faelen Villareal 2, Julian Armendariz 5, DeOsio 8, Jacob Navarro 2, Fabian Ruiz 5. FTP 33%. Q1 6-10, Q2 12-24, Q3 18-37, Q4 22-51.
The second game of the tournament was against the host team, Nixon-Smiley. We played our best game of the tournament but it was not enough to take down the Mustangs from Nixon-Smiley. After an 18 point second quarter, Natalia went into halftime trailing 24-26. It was the second half that proved to be the difference as Nixon-Smiley forced Natalia into a number of turnovers and outscored Natalia by a score of 26-7.
Armendariz 5, DeOsio 10, Navarro 2. Austin Guzman 6, Ruiz 6. FTP 29%. Q1 6-10, Q2 24-26, Q3 28-41, Q4 31-52.
I was extremely proud of our effort against a very big Navarro team. After playing to a 2 point game throughout the second quarter, the Panthers were able to go on a run to end the 1st half to extend their lead to 21-9. Navarro’s size would be too much for the Mustangs to handle as they would cruise to a 45-22 victory over the Mustangs.
Armendariz 11, Xaviar Vasquez 1, Navarro 1, Guzman 5, Ruiz 4. FTP 44%. Q1 4-9, Q2 9-21, Q3 18-37, Q4 22-45.
After a long two days, the Mustangs final game of the tournament would be against Weimar. The Mustangs would finish the 1st half on a 6-0 run to trail at halftime by a score of 23-17. The second half was all Weimar as they outscored the Mustangs 42-11 to win by a score of 65-25
Armendariz 5, Vasquez 3, Joshua San Miguel 3, Navarro 5, Ruiz 9. FTP 43%. Q1 4-6, Q2 14-23, Q3 20-44, Q4 25-65.
Enrique DeOsio was selected to the Nixon-Smiley All-Tourney team for his performance.
We played really well against Pearsall, on January 3, for most of the game but mistakes during crucial points in the game proved costly. We were able to jump out to a 20-10 lead in the first quarter on 10/15 shooting from the field but after only scoring 7 points in the second quarter and not getting the job done on the defensive end we went into the half trailing 34-27. We came out in the 2nd half and played Pearsall even before eventually falling by a score of 54-47. We did a much better job of taking care of the basketball but we still gave Pearsall too many easy opportunities in transition and allowed them a couple uncontested 3s that allowed them to extend their lead. I was extremely proud of how our guys controlled the boards against Pearsall. Fabian Ruiz (17 rebounds) and Austin Guzman (11 rebounds) did a great job for us. Fabian Ruiz also led the team in scoring with 15 points on 6/13 shooting. Enrique DeOsio pitched in 9 points for us as well. I thought we played one of our better games this season but we need to be able to do a better job of finishing after jumping out to an early lead.
Armendariz 8, DeOsio 9, Vasquez 2, Navarro 6, Guzman 7, Ruiz 17. FTP 33%. Q1 20-12, Q2 27-34, Q3 37-45, Q4 47-54.
The Mustangs will face Comfort and Carrizo Springs before their first district game against Dilley on January 17th.
Courtesy Coach Justin Welsh