Defense demolishes San Perlita

PORTLAND – Entering Wednesday’s game against San Perlita was no walk in the park for the Waelder Wildcats.

Facing a team that averages 70 points per game is no pushover by any means. So Waelder Head Coach Jarvin Hall put his team to the test. And that test was defense.

Backed by a speedy defense that left the San Perlita Trojans looking silly at times, turned into a sheer rout for the Waelder Wildcats as they continue its trek in the class 1A-D2 UIL playoffs with a 57-42 regional quarterfinals win at Gregory-Portland High School.

Waelder (28-6) heads to the UIL 1A regional tournament to be held at Burger Center in Austin. The Wildcats will face Huckabay today at 12 p.m. and a win there will send the team to the regional finals on Saturday at 1 p.m. Kopperl and Calvert will face each other in the other regional semifinal at 2 p.m. today.

“I told the guys that defense was going to win this game,” said Hall after the win on Wednesday. “That has been our backbone all season long.”

Waelder never trailed in the game and stymied the Trojan’s offense with its quickness. San Perlita’s closest point differential came with 4:01 in the first quarter when Oscar Pena was fouled on a shot and completed the 3-point play.

From there it was all Waelder taking control of the game.

Senior Dontrai Houston was unstoppable finishing with 29 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, two steals and one blocked shot.

“We knew that  no. 24 (Houston) was going to be hard to defend,” said San Perlita Head Coach Tom Wolfe. “When we tried to defend him small, he would post us up. When we tried big, he would take it to the basket. This kid deserves whatever accolades that will come to him in the future.”

 Houston scored 11 of his 29 points in the second quarter alone including a 3-pointer to end the first half and give the Wildcats a comfortable 29-12 lead.

The Wildcats defense held the Trojans to four points in the second quarter that proved to be the difference in the game. Waelder forced San Perlita into six turnovers in the quarter alone.

Leading San Perlita scorer Aaron Herrera was held to a measly 14 points. He scored 43 against Fayetteville in its area playoff win to reach the regional quarterfinals.

“Our guys came to play and our young guys stepped it up,” said Hall. “I have to give credit to them (San Perlita), they are a good team. But we had different intentions.”

Guard Torrey Fields suffered three fouls in the first half including back-to-back fouls midway through the first quarter that set the team back. But senior Cory Fonseca and sophomore Myron Williams dispersed the load for the Wildcats.

Fonseca finished with 12 points including two 3-pointers in the first quarter. Williams finished with six points.

Waelder began the third quarter where it left off taking a 31-14 lead after junior post Cody Orona hit a basket and was fouled. Orona finished with six points and six rebounds.

But the Trojans made a run for themselves after that and hit two 3-pointers from Oscar Pena and Herrera to cut the Waelder deficit to 35-22 before Harvin called a timeout to settle down.

Orona hit a 15-foot jumper at the buzzer to extend Waelder’s lead 39-26 to end the third quarter.

Houston sank two free throws with :13 ticks left to end the game.