Titans punch ticket to regional tourney
Originally published March 2, 2011 at 10:33 p.m., updated March 2, 2011 at 11:15 p.m.
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CommentFLORESVILLE - Playing defense in football and basketball isn't all that different. Jamie Thomas would know about it too.
After all, he's plays both sports.
"I played defensive back on the football team, and that just leads over to basketball defense," said the senior forward for the Titans. "You can't play as physical as you can in football, so I tone it down a little bit."
Still, there are a lot of similarities between guarding a wide receiver running a route on the field and a guard dribbling up court.
"I cover people one-on-one, you can't get your hands on them or they call pass interference," Thomas said. "Out here, if you touch them, they call a foul."
Frustrating skilled players, like San Antonio Edison's Arty Vela, is one of Thomas's specialties. Although his assignments included other players, particularly forward Marco Guerrero, the job of stopping Vela at times fell to Thomas.
"Coaches told me they wanted me on the best two ball handlers," he said.
Tyler Friedel had 11 points and Branden Williams led the way with 15 points and hit four of six critical free throws to give the Titans the edge over the Golden Bears on Wednesday night, 48-46, helping East punch its first ticket to the regional tournament as a program.
The win puts the Titans (27-8) just two games from a state tournament berth. East will play Boerne Champion in the Region IV-4A boys semifinal on Friday at 6 p.m. in the Blossom Athletic Center in San Antonio.
His value to the Titans, said coach John Grammer, comes from his ability to guard opposing teams most intimidating scorers.
"We usually put him on their best scoring wing," Grammer said. "We don't usually put him on their point guard; Dav'Vin Hill is usually on him. But we have some quickness at the guards, and we did what we needed to do."
Stopping Vela was a big part of the Titans defensive strategy, who had been averaging about 13 points per game to pace his team.
"We knew if we slowed him down, we could stop them," Thomas said. "In the first half, he really didn't do nothing."
For 31 minutes, the Titans did a more than adequate job of shutting down Vela. The guard had no points and was 0-for-6 from the field. Most of those shots came in the first quarter, as pressure from Dav'Vin Hill and Ian Sharpless forced him out of Edison's offensive game.
Grammer said the job of stopping Vela was simple.
"Our goal was to control him and not let him get any easy baskets," he said.
Vela came alive in the final minute, nailing a hail-Mary 3 pointer from about 28 feet out, then picking up three more points on a basket and a foul to help close the Titans lead, which at one point in the fourth quarter was as much as 10 points, down to two.
Still, the coaches aren't complaining about the effort on the defensive end of the ball.
"We played really good defense," Grammer said. "The times that they scored the most were off of our turnovers, and its kind of hard to defend against those because everyone out of position.
"We've said for a long time that we've been blessed," he added. "Our team is built on defense and rebounding, and defense and rebounding wins playoff games."
The real offensive threat turned out to be Casias, the Golden Bears second leading scorer. The junior guard hit several long and contested 3-pointers throughout the game. He was one of the main reasons Edison hung around. He finished with four 3-pointers and a game-high 21 points.
"He hit some shots, we were playing good defense, but he would just bombed it from deep," Thomas said.
Despite Williams' free throws late, the line was anything but charitable to the Titans. Before the senior guard stepped to the line, East was 0 for 4 from the line in the fourth quarter. They had also missed two chances to lengthen their lead to two possessions after Vela and Casias closed the lead.
"If we'd made free throws at the end, it would have been a lot less interesting," Grammer said. "But playoff games, you just got to survive and advance."
Victoria East 48, San Antonio Edison 46
EAST: Brandon White 3, Dav'Vin Hill 4, Tyler Friedel 11, Ian Sharpless 5, Branden Williams 15, Jamie Thomas 4, Conner Graham 6.
EDISON: Arty Vela 6, Marco Guerrero 10, David Casius 21, Michael Estina 9.
Halftime: East 24-20. 3-pointers: White, Friedel, Sharpless, Vela, Casius 4. Records: East 27-8, Edison 22-15. NOTE: East will play Boerne Champion on Friday at 6 p.m. at the Blossom Center in San Antonio.
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