McALLEN — Georgetown’s game plan against the McAllen High offense was clear from the opening tip of Tuesday’s Region IV-5A semifinal: deny senior guard Quinllion “Q” Canada the ball.
The Eagles attempted to faceguard him, but it didn’t matter. He torched them for nine points during the first quarter. When they started throwing two defenders at him, the rest of the Bulldogs (24-7, 12-2) stepped up to get buckets alongside their team captain.
“Q is our leader. He does so much for our team,” McHi head coach Ryan Flores said after their 48-37 Region IV-5A semifinal victory over Georgetown. “When we need him to score, he scores. When we need him to assist, he creates for someone else. When we need him to lock up, get a board, he’s up in the air. They had a good plan, but he’s such a great player, and we’ve seen defenses try to take him away. He’s such a unique player. He can score anywhere on the court. I’m just glad he’s on our team.”
Canada and the Bulldogs are one of eight teams left standing in the playoffs at the Class 5A level, but it comes as no surprise to the guys inside their locker room.
“We put in a lot of work at McHi since my freshman year. When you work, it’s bound to happen, so I’m just happy,” Canada said.
The senior does a little bit of everything for the Bulldogs. He fills every stat category by averaging 8.3 points, a team-high 6.4 rebounds, a team-high 3.4 assists, 1.6 steals and nearly a block per game.
While Canada is a team captain, he feeds off his teammates just as much as they feed off his leadership.
“We’re strong together. It starts in practice,” Canada said. “We go at each other, but we know that we’re still family through ups and downs. That’s what separates us from other teams. We stick together. We’re family.”
Before the postseason, Canada hoped to put together a playoff run during his senior year. The Bulldogs have been in a full-on sprint that’s landed them in the Region IV-5A final, one game away from the state tournament.
“We’re just out there playing with high-energy, that’s really what it is. We go out there with one goal and that’s to win, and we win championships on defense, and we’ve been doing that,” Canada said.
The last Class 5A-6A team from the Rio Grande Valley to advance to the state tournament was the 2015-16 Edinburg Vela SaberCats, who lost to the eventual state champion, Lancaster, 79-58 in the semifinals.
McHi has a chance to break through and punch its ticket to the Final Four. It’ll have to get past Leander Glenn (22-4, 12-2) to do so.
The Grizzlies advanced to the regional final by beating Victoria West 61-59 on Tuesday. Glenn, the co-champion of District 25-5A along with Georgetown, averages 70.2 points per game. The Bulldogs have held all four of their playoff opponents to final scores under 50.
Glenn also split its season series 1-1 with Georgetown, the team McHi beat to get to the Elite 8.
“We have to keep playing together and playing for each other, that’s what we try to preach to these guys. They pick themselves up when they make mistakes on the floor and know they can make things up on the defensive end,” Flores said. “They’re buying into the defensive philosophy, but we just have to continue playing good basketball.”
McAllen High and Leander Glenn are set for a 6:30 start tonight at Littleton Gym at Blossom Athletic Center in San Antonio.
The game will be live streamed on McAllen ISD’s Facebook page at facebook.com/mcallenisd on the McAllen ISD YouTube Channel at youtube.com/user/mcallenisd.
