FREER SPEARED

SANTA ROSA — He looked like Ruben Vela III. He wore the No. 14 jersey for the Santa Rosa Warriors and he shot like Vela.

Only difference was his shots weren’t falling.

Not the layups nor the three-pointers.

Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Now that’s just not Vela-like.

Fortunately for SR head coach Johnny Cipriano, the rest of the team certainly played Warrior-like.

To the tune of a huge 78-43 win against the Freer Buckaroos on Tuesday at the gym at Elma E. Barrera Elementary School on Tuesday night.

With the victory, the Warriors (6-1 in 32-2A) move into a tie with Freer (6-1) for first place in district.

And they did so with a big second-half effort as they raced away from a 34-27 halftime lead and outscored the Buckaroos 44-16 in the second half for the win.

“I told them to come out more aggressive (in the second half),” Cipriano said. “We were missing too many layups. Easy layups. But we came out and started making our layups and we hit some big threes. That separated us from Freer and forced them to hurry up a little on offense.”

In the first half, it seemed like it was Vela hurrying his shots.

Vela - the Valley’s leading scorer averaging 26.7 points per game heading into Tuesday’s action - finished with seven points at the half and 21 on the night.

Vela averages over 30 ppg in district games so his 21 was well below his norm. Vela even finished the night without making a three-pointer, a rare occurrence for the Warriors’ senior - who attempted his share but couldn’t convert any.

“I knew I was off,” Vela said. “That’s why I knew I had to find my open teammates. I know I can trust them to take shots and take over if I’m having an off night.”

Junior Jacob Garcia - the team’s second-leading scorer with 13 points an outing - stepped up in Vela’s struggles and led all scorers with 25 points and three treys.

Post Arthur Nelson helped out on the offensive side with 16 points and was a force on the boards creating opportunities on offense.

R.J. Alaniz scored seven and Bo Garza did a great job of finding open teammates and dishing out the ball on offense.

“Everyone stepped up tonight,” Cipriano said. “I got a good game from everyone. We had a solid team effort. We’re not just Ruben. Sometimes they (opponent) pay too much attention to Ruben but we’ve got other guys out there too.”

Santa Rosa came out firing in the second half with Alaniz and Garcia each nailing three-pointers to start the third and set the tone in SR’s favor.

The Warriors eventually opened up a 44-29 lead before the Buckaroos closed the gap to within 44-33.

That’s as close as the Bucks would get all night. Santa Rosa finished the third period on a 12-0 run as the Warriors outscored Freer 22-6 in the third.

Santa Rosa’s defensive effort was just as solid in the second half and continued into the fourth period.

Santa Rosa got things going in the final stanza with a 14-2 run that opened up a commanding 70-35 lead.

Freer managed a few meaningless buckets here and there down the stretch but the Warriors were well in control by then.

Jake Ochoa led the Buckaroos with 17 points. Matthew Reyes added 16 to Freer’s effort.