Apaches blown out at home

GONZALES — Tuesday night was a rough one for the Gonzales Apaches (0-2) basketball season as they dropped their second district game 91-39 against the Wimberley Texans (1-0). After going up 45-26 at the half, the Texans used their full-court press as well as their 2-3 zone defense to overwhelm the Apaches in the third quarter, outscoring the home squad 35-5 in that run.

“I thought the first half we played them tough,” Apaches’ head coach Derek Williams said, “probably as tough as we’ve ever been since we’ve been here. The pressure was just relentless and our kids are still not where they need to be in order to beat that press. They press you the whole game and we just didn’t do well. I think we took three steps back tonight.”

Fouls began to build as Wimberley took 20 free throws in the first half versus Gonzales’ 13. But the third quarter hole the Apaches dug was too much to come out of, allowing a 7-0 run before scoring a basket, then allowing an 18-0 run following that bucket to go down 73-29.

Despite the struggles on the court, Williams said his team has gone over what to do against the press.

“It’s all about discipline,” he acknowledged. “We went over that all year long, teams have pressed us all year long. I set up a non-district scheduled where we go against teams that press us. That never should happen.”

“We didn’t fight back tonight,” Williams continued. “That’s from the head coach to the coaching staff, all the way down to the last kid on the bench. We did not fight back tonight.”

Wimberley continued to increase their lead in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Apaches 11-9 in the period.

Leading the scoring for the Apaches was Khalil Smith with 13 points. Ryan Perez and Micah Medellin had six each.

“[Wimberley] is nowhere near the best team that we’ve played,” Williams said. “That team has had 10 times better teams that’s played us since I’ve been here. I don’t think that’s the best Wimberley team we’ve played since I’ve been here.”

Going down 0-2, the Apaches’ head coach believes the entire team needs to become mentally tough, or a turnaround will not happen.

“This year it’s about heart. That’s all it is. It is about heart,” he said. “We didn’t fight back tonight.”

The Apaches’ next district game is at home Tuesday against Austin Eastside Memorial (1-1). Tipoff is set at 6:30 p.m.