McALLEN — Robert Canul scored a game-high 18 points to lead McAllen High past Lower Valley Class 3A power 58-40 on Friday during the inaugural South Texas Bash Boys Basketball Tournament hosted by McAllen High.
There are seven playoff teams from a season ago battling in the round-robin format.
McHi junior guard Erasmo Alvarado added 11 points and three assists. Senior forward Jordan Chappell also filled the stat sheet for the Bulldogs with six points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Santa Rosa’s Adrian Zamora led the Warriors with 10 points and a pair of 3-pointers.
McHi head coach Ryan Flores’ main goal when inviting teams to their tournament was to put together a solid field of winning programs. The Bulldogs did precisely that with five of the seven teams competing being defending district champions of their respective districts.
“It’s turned out to be a very, very competitive tournament. I’m glad these teams came to compete down here,” Flores said.
The Bulldogs improved to 3-1 in the tournament with the win over Santa Rosa and 12-6 overall.
Other notable scores from Friday’s games at the South Texas Bash include Edinburg Economedes 68-62 over Brownsville Veterans, McHi defeating Laredo Martin 55-31 and Santa Rosa falling 64-54 against Georgetown.
Today’s matchups at the South Texas Bash at McAllen High School include McHi vs. Brownsville Veterans at 10 a.m., Santa Rosa vs. Laredo Alexander at noon and a marquee meeting between McAllen High and Georgetown at 2 p.m. It’s a rematch of last year’s Region IV-5A semifinal playoff matchup, which the Bulldogs won 48-37 to advance to the regional final and ending the Eagles’ 2020-21 season.
“Georgetown, Coach (David) Canfield does a great job with his kids. They’re very disciplined and play good, fundamental basketball,” Flores said. “Their size alone is something we don’t normally don’t see down here, so I’m glad they came down here to see what kind of basketball we play, which is a little bit more up-tempo, move the ball, shoot the ball, get up and down the floor. They’re in the playoffs every year, they’re always competitive and have great size, so we want those teams down here to make us better.”
Edinburg Economedes and Santa Rosa are set to collide in the tournament finale at 3:30 p.m.
