By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
For the second day in a row, Del Rio went 1-1 at the inaugural Wings and Rings Classic, but that loss will keep Del Rio out of the tournament’s championship picture.
The Rams rallied to beat Kerrville Tivy, 53-48, in the team’s first game of the day, but didn’t have an answer for a tough Laredo Nixon squad, losing in the final game Friday, 66-50.
Del Rio moves on to face Warren. That game is scheduled for Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at the Carl P. Guys Memorial Gymnasium.
Four teams still have a shot at the tournament’s title. San Antonio St. Anthony’s will take on San Antonio John Jay at 9:30 a.m. in Guys Gym for a spot in the championship game. Meanwhile, also at 9:30 a.m., Laredo Nixon and San Antonio Churchill will meet in the Del Rio High School’s old gym with the winner claiming the championship game’s other spot.
The losing teams from those two games will face off at 2 p.m. in the old gym for third place. The winning teams will meet at 2 p.m. in Guys Gym for the championship.
Saturday’s schedule is as follows:
8 a.m. – Marshall vs. Southwest (Guys Gym), Kerrville Tivy vs. Presidio (Old Gym)
9:30 a.m. – St. Anthony’s vs. John Jay (Guys Gym), Nixon vs. Churchill (Old Gym)
11 a.m. – Corpus Christi Carroll vs. Edison (Old Gym, Holmes vs. St. Mary’s (Guys Gym)
12:30 p.m. – Roma vs. Presidio (Old Gym), Del Rio vs. Warren (Guys Gym)
2 p.m. – Third Place Game (Old Gym), Championship Game (Guys Gym)
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Laredo Nixon 66, Del Rio 50
Del Rio trailed from the outset against Nixon. The Mustangs grabbed a 15-3 lead in the first quarter before Rams head coach Joe Nieto called a timeout to regroup and help his team recover.
By the end of the opening quarter, the Rams were down 17-5.
Nixon didn’t let up in the second quarter, spurred on by Mason Vela. Vela, who led all scorers in the game with 23 points, had six points in the quarter to help keep his team in front.
The Rams clawed their way back into the game using the 3-ball. Ethan Dobbins hit a pair of 3’s in the second quarter while Alexis Flores and Gabriel Arriaga each added one to try and gain ground against Nixon, who stretched its lead to 33-20 by halftime.
While Del Rio would get as close as 11 points in the third, Nixon would never give the Rams an opening. Vela had three 3-pointers in the third quarter and Nixon outscored Del Rio 18-13 in the third to push its lead to 51-33 headed into the fourth.
Del Rio didn’t have an answer for Nixon’s speed and ball movement and that proved to be the big difference as the Mustangs scored 15 more points in the fourth to close out the 16-point win.
The Rams’ Flores finished with 12 points, all on 3-pointers. Dobbins finished with 11 points, Julian Domingues had eight points, Angel Contreras had seven points, and Israel Betancourt and Arriaga each had six points.
Nixon had three players in double digits including Vela, A.J. Palacios with 13 points and Uli Torres with 12 points.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
