Apaches back in playoff contention

GONZALES — There’s been a shift in culture the past few years for the Apaches’ basketball program. Memories of the successful “Runnin’ Apaches” have started to fade, but under the direction of head coach Derek Williams, the boys’ program is starting to show a spark. Tuesday night, the spark shined a bit clearer than normal.

The Apaches hosted La Vernia for a District 26-4A game. Without a district win, the Apaches were in a role that they’ve been in all season. That of the underdog. Add the fact that the visiting Bears were top dogs in district and for some, the loss seemed inevitable.

Except Gonzales outscored La Vernia 14-9 in the first, then increased their lead with a 12-7 second quarter.

“We played with patience,” Williams said. “We didn’t have our normal 25 turnovers and I think the kids played probably the best defensive game we’ve played all year.”

The Bears cut the lead with a 16-10 advantage in the third and, as the Apaches had some foul outs in the fourth, the young ballers needed to contribute and were able to hold on to that lead, knocking off La Vernia 47-46.

“Those young kids got us in the lead, kept us in the lead and the two seniors [Aaron Hunt and Luis Segura] closed the door,” Williams recapped.

“Khalil Smith played well. Trevion McNeil played excellent, I think he led us in rebounds again. Luis Segura, again, is coming up with rebounds and he’s one of the smallest and lightest posts in the district. I think Hunt and Matthew Velasquez-Banda came in with big-time free throws down the stretch. Ryan Perez, maybe not offensively played well, but maybe played his best defensive game.”

The win moved Gonzales to 1-4 in district and dropped La Vernia to 3-2. Meanwhile, Austin Eastside took an 82-70 loss to Navarro, moving them down to 2-3. Making it to the playoffs is a realistic goal for the Apaches.

“They can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Williams said. “If we can just fight to get to that light, that’s all we need to do. We don’t need to worry about anybody else. We just have to keep fighting down that tunnel. I still feel you get out what you put in. if we can continue to fight, one of those teams is going to go down and we can make the playoffs for the first time since 2011. That’s our goal. That’s always been our goal. But we just have to fight. We can’t let up and be satisfied.”

This season has had its ups and downs. Gonzales blew out their rivals in Cuero earlier in the season but then suffered their worst loss against Wimberley weeks ago. But there’s no denying that there’s a change in the environment.

“We watch film every day. And I think they all saw that in every game, including the blowout with Wimberley, we are in the game, but somebody fouls out, somebody gets a technical foul and it goes back to what it used to be,” Williams explained. “Before I got here, the classes that I have on this basketball team didn’t win in seventh grade, didn’t win as an eighth grader, didn’t win as freshmen and then I get these sophomores that hadn’t won a game — so not only are they fighting against doing the right thing on the court, they’re fighting against a winning environment. There’s no winning environment.”

Williams reiterated that his team has been playing hard all year. But now there’s a sort of expectation of winning, something the program hasn’t seen for a while.

“I told them sooner or later you are going to have to figure out when does the losing stop,” he said. “And I think this game here will build on that. Regardless of what the outcome may be, the environment is changing. Maybe you can only see a spark of it but that whole basketball environment is changing.”

Williams has tried to build this program from bottom up. This season it has shown as young players have had to make contributions on the varsity level. With years of losing, the “light at the end of the tunnel” that Williams referred to is now in sight. Making the playoffs is the goal. Knocking off La Vernia is just one step toward it.

The Apaches hope to take another step forward tonight as they take on Wimberley (3-1) on the road. Their last game was a blowout, with the Texans winning 91-39.