Victoria East made the plays it needed to make to win its District 22-5A opener against Victoria West.Ìý
The key for East (10-9) Tuesday night's 46-40 win at the West gym was defense.
The Titans put the clamps on West (5-10) by mixing zone and man-to-man looks.
"We tried some man earlier in the game, but they were so patient and made us guard a lot of sets and they made us work hard," East head coach Ralph Almanza said. "We like to run a lot of zone and I felt like they could never get quite comfortable against it."
What East's zone defense did was force West to play at a slower tempo than it wanted.Ìý
"I think that was a good call by Coach Almanza," West head coach Cody McDonald said. "When somebody runs zone against you, it forces you to pass the ball and look for different spots. They run their 2-3 really well and they were able to take the pace out of the game."
While East did its job defensively, it did need to make big shots late in the game. That is where Braedyn Cates came through.Ìý
Cates is the floor general for the Titans and consistently one of the leading scorers. Through three quarters against West, he had scored just four points.
"From the start I felt like I wasn't really doing anything," Cates said. "I was just sagging back and when the game was close at the end I knew I had to be more aggressive."
After not taking any outside shots early in the game, Cates connected on two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. The firstÌý gave East a five-point lead, and the other pushed the Titans' lead to seven with just over 3 minutes to play.
"I wouldn't say we have any great shooters, but we have some streaky shooters," Almanza said. "Those two 3s were probably the difference in the game, and Braedyn was in the right place at the right time."
While Cates was able to hit outside shots down the stretch, West struggled to find any rhythm on the perimeter. Center Ty Cattan found some success inside, leading the Warriors with 10 points.
West made just two 3-pointers and struggled to break down the East zone defense.Ìý
"There were some plays defensively where they made some deflections and just got some hustle plays," McDonald said. "They showed some awareness getting to the ball and made some hustle plays at the very end that hurt us."
A young West team with three freshmen and two sophomores will return to in the Mike Smith Classic at Victoria East on Dec. 27-28.
"We have a really young group that haven't had that experience at the varsity level just yet," McDonald said. "They executed a lot of what we asked them to tonight, they've come together in a lot of ways and now they have to continue to grow."
East will be back in action Friday against Rosenberg Terry, before heading into the five-day mandatory holiday break.
"I think we're ready for this tough district, there's pressure to be ready right off the bat and this win means so much," Almanza said.Ìý"But now we got to go into that Christmas break 2-0 and beat Terry on Friday."
District 22-5A
Victoria East 46, Victoria West 40
Points:Ìý(E)ÌýJesse Gonzalez 11, Braedyn Cates 10, Caleb Jefferson 10, Layland Ring 4, Judson Brown 3, Josh Rivera 3, Braylin Vasquez 3, TJ Duffy 2.Ìý(W) Ty Cattan 10, Beau Woods 8, Matthew Cattan 7, Jamal Scott 6, Luke Knight 3, Jenesis Jeffries 3, Quaid Johnson 3.Ìý
Halftime: 24-20 East.Ìý3-pointers: Cates 2, Gonzalez, Rivera, Brown M. Cattan, Johnson. Records: East 10-9, 1-0; West 5-10, 0-1.
