Apaches dominate in early 20-point win

GONZALES — Tuesday marked the first game with football players in the basketball lineup as the Gonzales Apaches knocked off Bandera 61-41 at home for an early non-district test. With limited amount of reps, Gonzales head coach Alec Paramski was pleased with 20-point win..

“Our goal was to go out there and play fundamental basketball,” he said after the game. “Our guys coming from football have only had one practice. I just told them, ‘hey, just go out there, have fun, play and they did a really good job.’”

Up 21-16 late in the second quarter, the Apaches’ defense forced multiple turnovers and missed shots, allowing for the team to end the half on a 12-0 run to go up 33-16, an insurmountable lead Bandera could not overcome.

“We played really well on defense,” Paramski explained. “I’ve been teaching this new defense and they’ve bought into it. We just got to do to a few more tweaks to it, but it’s going to be pretty good.”

Jaydyn Lookabill led the team in scoring with 29 points, adding four assists to the stat sheet.

“He was on varsity last year and I know he plays basketball all year round and it showed tonight,” Paramski said. “He’s very physical. He’ll go up and grab a rebound. He does it all.”

Lookabill had 14 points in the first half and 28 points by the end of the third quarter.

The Apaches did find themselves into some foul trouble in the second half, with Bandera getting into the bonus midway through the third quarter.

“That’s just kids being tired and not having enough time with them for practice,” Paramski explained. “It’s just them being tired.”

Even then, the Apaches defense did not let up as Paramski rotated players onto the court. The first-year head coach believes the team’s depth will be a strength this season.

“I can rotate anybody in and they would give me a great five solid minutes,” he said. “I think our bench is going to be good.”

Will Knox added 11 points to the total while Jaiahius Goode and Brady Barfield had seven each, Diego Diaz de Leon had five points and Xavier Aguayo had two points.

Another strength that team has that they haven’t in years past will be their offense. Last year’s team put up 60 points just twice during their 12-game district schedule. This year’s Apaches are already coming off back-to-back 61-point games.

Gonzales travels to Canyon Lake next Tuesday, Dec. 10, before hosting a tournament next week from Dec. 13-14.