Wildcats advance in rout of Leakey

SAN MARCOS – Start fast and hang on.

That’s what the Waelder boys basketball team did Saturday night. The Wildcats jumped out to a 25-3 lead after one quarter of play and held on for a 53-33 victory over Leakey in a Class A-Division II area round contest Saturday at San Marcos High School.

“We came out excited and with a lot of energy,” Waelder coach Jarvin Hall said. “We hit some easy shots early in the game, and held our own on defense.”

Waelder (19-15) earned a date with Calvert in the region quarterfinal round. The teams will play Tuesday night.

Leakey scored the first point of the game on a free throw, but the Eagles’ lead was short-lived as Clay Orona hit a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats the lead for good, 3-1. Orona scored 15 of his team’s 25 first-quarter points, and Waelder did not surrender a field goal in the opening period as it led 25-3 after eight minutes of play.

“I felt pretty confident that we would hang on after that,” Orona said.

Leakey did not hit a field goal until the 6:39 mark of the second quarter. A 3-pointer by Tiburcio Blanton gave the Wildcats their biggest lead of the contest, 29-6, before the Eagles closed out the second quarter on an 8-0 run to pull within 15, 29-14, at halftime.

After scoring just 4 points in the period immediately before halftime, Hall had a message for his team in the locker room.

“Coach told us to take care of the ball,” Blanton said.

Waelder did just that in the second half. Although the Wildcats managed to score just 7 points in the third quarter, they held Leakey to 4 in the period to take a 36-18 lead into the fourth.

The Eagles opened the fourth quarter on a 13-6 run to pull within 11, 42-31, with 4:55 left to play. But Waelder closed out the game on an 11-2 run behind 6 points from Blanton in the final 4:55.

Blanton finished the game as the leading scorer with 16 points, including 11 in the second half. Cody Orona recorded a double-double with 12 points and a team-high 14 rebounds.

“They extended their zone, but if I received the initial pass, I almost always had a one-on-one matchup,” Orona said. “It feels good to see all the hard work we put in pay off. It’s awesome to see it all come together.”

Orona wasn’t the only Waelder player to make his presence felt inside as he also recorded five blocks. Blanton (9 rebounds), Clay Orona (8 rebounds), Deondre Fields (7 rebounds) and Joseph McCook (4 rebounds) also contributed to the Wildcats dominance inside.