Best of the Best

On paper the Hanna Golden Eagles looked pretty good but on the court they were even better.

The Golden Eagles played the role of Goliath this season posting a 13-1 district record and led The Herald's 2008 All-Metro honors with six including Coach of the Year, MVP, Newcomer of the Year, and two first team selections.

One of Hanna's tri-captains Joe Elizondo was Mr. Consistent shooting over 51 percent from the field averaging 13.4 points per game with 5.9 rebounds per game.

Elizondo was not just dependable but he came up big when it mattered most and that was evident in the third game of the season where he poured in 25 points to escape a feisty Rivera Raider team 66-65.

The senior leader came up clutch once again late in the season combing for 37 points with teammate and fellow first team selec-tion Javy Villarreal against San Benito keeping their bid for a perfect season alive 59-57 over the Greyhounds.

"It's something I didn't expect," Elizondo said. "Being chosen came out of nowhere for me and I feel honored to be selected as one of the best in the Valley."

Villarreal was one of the many weapons like Newcomer of the Year Mario Castaneda (8.7 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 2.4 steals per game) on the Hanna roster who posted 12.4 PPG, 6.4 RPG and 2.0 SPG. Just like the San Antonio Spurs Manu Ginobili the Golden Eagle junior did most of his damage not starting but providing an energy boost for the Hanna squad.

"He was highly instrumental to the team pretty much coming off the bench," Coach of the Year Don Denson said. "We started him a few games but for some reason he had more of an impact and gave us that extra spark coming off the bench like one of those outstanding sixth men in the NBA."

With the Eagles as Goliath the Los Fresnos Falcons played the part of David to the T.

Behind first team honoree Adrian Perez who lead the Falcons in scoring with 16.9 PPG including 3.0 assists per game, 3.2 RPG, 2.5 SPG Los Fresnos was the only team to slay the seemingly unbeatable Golden Eagles in the final game of the district season 66-64.

Dealing with the hostile Hanna crowd Perez shot an airball from behind the arc in the first quarter fueling the chants of "airball" from the fans.

Resilient, Perez made his next three attempts from downtown putting a clamp on bleacher vocal chords and ended up with 16 points crushing Hanna's hopes of a perfect district season.

"I remember him shooting the airball then knocking down the next shots where he put his finger to his lips to be quiet (to the crowd)," Falcons coach Shawn Jones said. "He has great intensity and knows he can score he's a fun offensive player to watch."

Los Fresnos also had second team selection Alex Guerra who did all the little things for his team as well as 9.1 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 3.0 SPG, and 2.5 blocks per game.

"Alex is long, lean and very athletic," Jones said. "His stats might not show it but he did all the intangible things for us deflecting passes, forcing players to shoot, and he can jump. He brought senior leadership and maturity. He was a tough match up because he was a little longer to guard."

The Raiders had quite the duo in first team selection Richard Samano and second team Carlos Cano.

Rivera's tandem gave them a cinderlla-esque season where they started 6-10 and weren't beeping on anyone's radar. Samano who was the team's captain had arguably one of the best all-around campaign this year averaging 16.7 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 4.5 APG with 65 steals helping his team reach the postseason with a 11-3 record.

"He's our team leader," Raider coach Saul Villarreal said. "What we did was because of Richard and how we accomplished mak-ing the playoffs. He developed this year and did as much for the team as he could as compared to years past."

Cano did a lot of the dirty work for the team by sucking in opposing defenses giving opportunities for teammates and was a huge factor in the post area.

"He was a big part of the team," Samano said. "He played tough defense, made blocks and other guys were able to score because they would double team him and he would kick it out to us."

Rounding off the first team is Pace's Ruben Garza who once again was one of the best ball handlers and scores in the district.

Garza was quick and penetrated to hole with the best once again giving him another season averaging double digits.