By LARRY GAGE
Special to the PRESS
The Port Isabel Tarpons lost 66-52 to Grulla on the road Tuesday night in the second district game for both teams.
Port Isabel never led but after trailing by 17 points, 36-19 at the half, P.I. outscored the Gators 33-30 in the second half. Grulla led 21-11 after one quarter and 50-36 at the start of the fourth.
Grulla improves to 1-1 in District 32-4A play and is tied with Raymondville, Hidalgo and Zapata for third place in the league standings. La Feria and Rio Hondo are tied for first with 2-0 records. Port Isabel and Progreso are both 0-2.
“We knew we were going to play an athletic team,” Tarpon head coach Anthony Velarde told the Press Wednesday. “They jumped out on us pretty quick with some long range shots and forced us into a more uptempo game after the first quarter.”
The Tarpons hurt their own cause by giving up the ball much too often in the first half. “We had a lot of unforced turnovers – it was uncharacteristically sloppy for us in the first half. We made some adjustments at halftime. We decided to attack the basket more, push the ball up the floor.”
Coach Velarde likes what he’s seeing lately with his team’s defensive play, but said the offense needs improvement.
“Part of it is that we’ve gotten comfortable with what we do, but we’re not looking at second and third options, and that really limits what we do offensively. We’ve gotten much better on defense. There are still a couple of breakdowns here and there, but overall we’re playing man-to-man very well and we’re playing our zones really well.”
Fernie Lopez led the Tarpons in scoring with 13 points and three steals. Jose Atkinson dropped in 11 points and Nick Carrillo scored eight points.
Last Saturday the Tarpon varsity squad lost at home to the Raymondville Bearkats, 50-49. The Tarpon JV and freshmen teams won, 39-34 and 54-21, respectively.
The Hidalgo Pirates will sail into Tarpon Gym this Friday and all six Tarpon and Lady Tarpon teams will see action in the two gyms. The boys’ Varsity will tip-off at 6:30 p.m. and will be followed by the girls’ Varsity at 8 p.m. Both the Tarpon and Lady Tarpon JV squads will get started at 5:00 o’clock, and the boys’ and girls’ freshmen contests are scheduled for 8 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively.
Want the whole story? Pick up a copy of the Port Isabel-South Padre Press, or subscribe to our E-Edition by clicking here.
Comments