By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Del Rio’s second half woes reared their ugly head again as the Rams basketball team kicked off its district schedule Friday.
The Rams carried a three-point lead into halftime against a game Laredo United squad, but Del Rio was outscored 21-11 in the third quarter and was never able to recover, leading the Rams to drop their 30-6A opener, 50-45.
Del Rio built a 13-5 lead in the first quarter thanks in part to the play of sophomore Alessandro Elizondo who scored five in the period and also found teammate Jorge Rubio for an easy basket in close to force the Longhorns to call a timeout to regroup.
United’s Diego Saldaña was able to hit a 3-pointer to slow the Rams down, and a Jacobo Benavides free throw made the score 17-12 after the first quarter.
United cut the lead to just two points before Elizondo stole the ball and scored to push the lead back to 24-19. United would again bounce back and helped trim the lead to three points by halftime, 25-22.
The Longhorns tied the game 27-27 on a 3-pointer by Victor Koo, but Del Rio answered with back-to-back baskets by Rubio to reclaim the lead and go up by four.
The 3-point shot was United’s best weapon. After struggling to hit from long range in the first half, making just four of the shots in first and second quarters combined, the Longhorns were on target in the third quarter, hitting four shots from beyond the arc including a pair from Ramon Chavez that helped United take back the lead with just under four minutes left in the quarter.
By the end of the third, United had taken a 43-36 lead.
In the fourth quarter, the Longhorns’ offense went through Luis Arzuaga.
After scoring just four points in the first three quarters combined, Arzuaga scored all seven of United’s points in the fourth quarter. He would have had more, but he struggled from the free throw line, going 1-for-4 in the fourth.
Elizondo rallied the Rams, scoring seven in the fourth as well including a basket that cut the United lead to 48-45. Corbin Farrar had a block late that gave the Rams the ball back, but the final shot was off the mark.
Elizondo led all players with 16 points. He also had three rebounds, three assists and three steals. Alan Dobbins had nine points and a team-high eight rebounds. Rubio had eight points, Brandon Ker had five points and a team-high four steals, Farrar had four points, and Joel Dominguez added three points.
Arzuaga led United with 11 points.
In other district action, Laredo Alexander (1-0) defeated Laredo United South (0-1), 53-51. No score was reported in the game between Laredo LBJ and Eagle Pass.
Del Rio returns to action tonight as the Rams host the Laredo Alexander Bulldogs at 7 p.m. at the Carl P. Guys Memorial Gymnasium. Sub-varsity plays at 5:30 p.m.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
