MVP

Many high school seniors dream of going out on top so they can look back years from now and say

‘I did it.'

Average double-digits, check.

District Championship, check.

The Herald's All-Metro MVP, check.

Hanna's senior guard Edward Casarez was a playmaker and after four years of high school ball he has flourished into the best player in District 32-5A.

"Edward has improved drastically since his freshman year," Golden Eagle coach Don Denson said. "We knew he was going to be a fine ball player his senior year and we're happy the way he developed and he helped out the team a lot with his offensive skills as well as those defensive skills. He was a fine, fine leader on the court."

Casarez was the prototypical all-around player leading the team in scoring with 17.2 points per game, and had 3.5 rebounds per game 2.6 steals a contest with almost three dimes giving opposing teams all sorts of problems on the floor.

Even though Casarez didn't ink up every category he possessed the X-factor and just his presence on the floor made the Golden Eagles that much better.

"We worked our offense around him, " Denson said. "He was very unselfish with the ball he made some good decisions when to take the shot, when to penetrate and when to kick it off to teammates."

In fact, the Eagle primary scorer made it count every time he shot averaging 52 percent from the field throughout the season. His shot selection allowed his fellow teammates to capitalize when opposing teams hounded the Hanna star.

Casarez was the juggernaut in Hanna's success, which went 13-1 in district play, and in the first round of the playoffs he dis-played a MVP-type performance in the area round over the Harlingen Cardinals.

And with the potential of it being his last game of his high school career the Herald's All-Metro MVP dropped some serious ink on the stat page burning Harlingen with 34 points on 12-of-16 shooting from the field.

He also was three-for-five from beyond the arc helping the team mount a blistering season-high 91 points in the 19-point victory giving him one more game in an Eagle uniform.

"Well my brother and family wanted me to come out and do my best because it could've have been the last game of my (high school) career," Casarez said. "I didn't want it to end."

Before league play began it was evident Casarez was going to make a monumental impact in 32-5A season during the annual South Padre Island Beach Bonanza tournament.

The soft spoken Hanna assassin put up a combined 67 points on the first day of the tournament as the Eagles beat San Antonio Stevens 78-75. Later that afternoon lit up Houston Sharpstown with season-high 38 points in a losing effort against the ... 70-68.

That eye-opening preseason tournament display hoisted the Golden Eagles MVP and his teammates to a feeling that they could take on any team.

"It was a pretty good experience playing against a lot bigger and faster players," Casarez said. "We played great in both of them and felt like we could play with anybody."

With the season in the books and his Eagle days over Casarez is looking to take another step in his basketball career.

"We're looking for Edward to get to the next level," Denson said. "We've already contacted a few schools and we're hoping that they will take an interest in him, taking him to that next level."