The Armadillo men played fast and physical in their first Texas Collegiate Athletic Conference game Oct. 2 at SAC’s Candler Physical Education Center, holding off a late surge by Northeast Lakeview College to defeat the Nighthawks 90-84.
SAC center Markus Salinas won the opening tip-off and quickly made his presence felt, playing tough interior defense and hitting two early mid-range jump shots.
SAC guard Arian Elizondo hit two three-pointers from the wing and set the aggressive tone by drawing a charge early.
The first half was a back-and-forth battle as the Armadillos’ defense forced turnovers and created fastbreak opportunities off of steals.
The Nighthawks kept the game close in the first half, securing second-chance points and playing tough and physical on the interior.
The first half concluded with an Armadillos turnover, but strong defense by Salinas and a long pass up the court from Elizondo to SAC guard Reginald Steadman led to a last-second lay-in to put the Armadillos up 45-39 at the half.
Armadillos’ head coach Jimmy Alcala said selfless play on both ends of the court is his team’s biggest strength.
”They share the ball on offense and help each other on defense,” he said.
Those factors were present in the second half.
Elizondo hit a long three to open the half and followed it up with a steal. He scored on an easy fastbreak layup on the next possession.
The Armadillos went on a 28-12 run, playing aggressive defense and capitalizing on the offensive end to go up by 22.
After the Armadillos’ hot second-half start and a few rotations, the Nighthawks bounced back, securing second-chance points and shutting down the Armadillos’ perimeter scoring. With a little more than four minutes left in the game, they had cut the lead to single digits.
Alcala switched up the rotation, but the Nighthawks kept the game close. With about two minutes left, the Nighthawks had cut the Armadillos’ lead to three.
The Armadillos forced a few key turnovers and converted fastbreak points late. Elizondo took advantage of the Nighthawks’ inbound defense and threw a full-court pass to SAC forward Luke Lopez for an easy layin to go up by seven.
The Armadillos played tough keep-away basketball to prevent the Nighthawks from fouling them and prevented the comeback.
“We knew it was going to be very competitive. We had to be ready,” Alcala told The Sundial. “We played good team ball on offense and defense, but we need to work on offensive rebounding.”
The Armadillos will look to improve to 3-0 in conference play Wednesday night as they take on the Palo Alto College Palominos on the road.
Read Next: SAC Basketball Coach Jimmy Alcala Hopes to Repeat Championship
