C.C. Miller holds off McAllen Memorial in title game

MCALLEN — The Corpus Christi Miller Battlin’ Buccaneers had given the McAllen Memorial Mustangs a free pass inside the lane during the first half.

Once the Bucs got their half-court defense in sync for the second half, they challenged Memorial and blocked shots.

That sparked the Bucs’ quick-passing offense for a 49-46 victory over the Mustangs in the 2011 McAllen City of Palms Classic title game Tuesday night.

"We communicated on the defensive end and stayed intense," Miller coach Maurice Bastian said. "Memorial made a tremendous run and they’ve got guards that can shoot the ball. The main thing is that we didn’t get rattled."

The Mustangs pulled within one late in the game, but a turnover by a Memorial in bounded pass gave the ball back to Miller, who held on for the win.

Memorial, though, wasn’t the only Class 4A and 5A valley school to succumb against Miller. The District 31-3A Bucs defeated McAllen Rowe 60-58 in the semifinal, and trounced Hidalgo and Mission Veterans in the tournament as well.

"It’s always important to beat a school that is one class or two bigger than you, it speaks volumes of our program," Bastian said. "We’ve got some good athletes, we lack in size, but we make up with that in determination and will."

With the game tied at 24 in the half, the Bucs jumped ahead 33-26 after a 9-0 run with 1:55 left in the third.

Mustangs senior forward Josh Davies, who led all scorers with 18 points, had gotten to the free throw line often and converted (8-of-10 free throws)

But in that third period, Davies and the rest of the Mustang offense went cold and were limited to just four points.

"We just missed a lot of layups, and some at crucial times," Memorial coach Sam Cortez said. "Even like that, we could’ve had a chance to win. I’m happy, but I’m disappointed with the turnout, if they beat us that’s fine, but when we gave the game away, it’s hard to swallow."

The Mustangs came back in the fourth quarter to pull within 45-44 of Miller with 34 seconds left after Juan ‘Papito’ Gonzalez (15 points) hit a shot and the ensuing free throw.

That’s when Bucs guard Billy Guzman made a violation on the inbounds pass that gave the ball back to Memorial, but the Mustangs returned the favor within seconds.

"My thing is that we gave them unforced turnovers which turned into uncontested layups," Cortez said. "When you lose by three, one of those (turnovers) come back to haunt you.

"Even in the out-of-bounds play, we had a set play for a three (point shot) and we turned it over."

Dale Perryman was named tourney MVP and finished with nine points for CC. Jordan Rosales scored six points for the Mustangs.