Cinderella Greyhounds lose magic

Last year at this time the San Benito Greyhounds were eyeing a playoff berth, which they ended up accomplishing for the first time in nearly half a century.

Now, the team stands at 1-5 in district and right now all coach Roy Garcia wants is to find a way back to the victory column.

“I just want to win,” Garcia said. “We just can’t seem to put it together, we aren’t gelling as a team.”

San Benito lost four starters from last year’s Cinderella playoff run and even with Michael Preciado, arguably one of the best players in the Valley back for the team, its still been a struggle.

“You’re hoping some guys come through (with teams targeting Preciado),” Garcia said. “Other wise we’ll be humiliated every game, even though we’ve played some tough teams. I don’t take any credit away from the other teams they are around we’re not.”

Pace on the prowl

The Vikings stumbled out of the blocks in district to a 0-3 start despite having one of the best records heading into league play.

Coach Larry Gibson and the Vikings have bounced back and are currently riding a three-game winning streak to put them selves back in contention for a playoff berth.

“We just got back to basics and started playing the way we did at the beginning of the year,” he said.

Ruben Garza is the floor general for the Vikings and has been consistent despite the team’s ups and downs, but Gibson said the one player who has really come through is guard Jose Cano.

“Jose is playing like he did before and has really stepped in for us (throughout the winning streak),” he said.

Pace faces a Weslaco team today that is 4-2 in district and the Vikings have to continuing winning in order to stay in the playoff race.

“Right now we’d really like to win,” Gibson said. “We look at it as a must win game for us and it’ll put us right in the middle playoff hunt.”

Tarpons’ morale high

Port Isabel coach Al Senteno’s team hiccuped against Rio Hondo suffering it’s first district loss of the season Tuesday. Yet, the team is in good spirits especially after defeating defending 32-3A champion Hidalgo at its home opener last week.

“It was a big step for our kids,” Senteno said. “It was a big win and it brought a lot of confidence to our team. We played Rio Hondo tough we just turned the ball over more than we did against Hidalgo.”

The Tarpons have shot the ball extremely well this season, which includes the Rio Hondo loss where they nailed ten 3-pointers.

“We’ve got to win our games,” Senteno said. “I’m very pleased with our shooting, we just need to contain inside (the paint) better and not turnover the ball. That’ll be the difference for us down the stretch.”

Eagle’s still perfect

The Hanna Golden Eagle’s (6-0) remain unbeaten in district but it hasn’t gone without a few close calls.

Hanna narrowly escaped Rivera on the road by one point and in its most recent match up against the Weslaco Panthers the team withstood a late run to win 64-60.

There are some holes in the Eagle’s armor and one of them is the fourth quarter which coach Don Den-son is addressing by using the video feedback to make the proper tweaks.

The road to perfection won’t get any easier as they go on the road today against Los Fresnos (4-2), then next week to Pace (3-3). Hanna will be back at home next Friday against Rivera (5-1). All three team’s are in the hunt for the playoffs.