RIO HONDO — With Rio Hondo head basketball coach JR Guzman on the verge of earning his 600th career win on Friday, the Bobcats wanted nothing more than to get it for him in front of their home crowd.
The Bobcats accomplished their goal by defeating the Progreso Red Ants 58-42 in a District 32-4A matchup.
When asked about notching the 600th win of this career, the longtime Bobcats coach was at a loss for words and humbly replied with, “It feels pretty good.”
Rio Hondo’s Nick Uresti led the team in scoring on the night with 19 points and was honored to get the victory for his coach.
“It feels great to be a part of a team that helped their coach reach 600 wins,” Uresti said. “Playing for coach Guzman is awesome and he is never about himself. He always puts the team first.”
The Bobcats were in a tight contest with the Red Ants early on when Progreso made it rain from outside to trail Rio Hondo 14-11 heading into the second quarter.
“We had to change our defensive strategy a bit and I told them to step up or they would continue to beat us with their shots,” Guzman said.
That’s when the Bobcats emerged onto the scene putting up 24 points, and also limiting Progreso to seven, giving Rio Hondo a 38-18 lead before the half.
Uresti lead the surge for Rio Hondo in the second quarter, scoring 11 of the Bobcats’ 24 points in the quarter and that momentum carried the Cats the rest of the way.
“We focused more on rebounding since we have been slacking off lately and I think we made up for it in this game,” said Uresti.
Bobcat teammates Albert Adames, Gonzalo Ortega and Joey Garza all pitched in with seven points.
Rio Hondo will travel to Port Isabel on Monday in search of their sixth district victory on the district season.
