Memo Anaya let out a wide grin.
It’s always good to see a plan come together.
And it’s always good to get to 2-0.
The Odessa High boys basketball team made its adjustments, got in gear and pulled away to beat Seminole 77-67 on Friday night in the OHS Fieldhouse.
“It’s a great feeling,” Anaya said with that smile.
The Bronchos trailed by four points at 13-9 at the end of the first quarter, but adjusted on the floor under first-year head coach Jance Morris, storming their way back to take the lead by the break and pushing on in the second half.
Odessa High struggled with a game Indians team in the early minutes, but eventually flipped the switch under Morris’ instruction, starting to get the ball into the paint as designed on offense, and working on the defensive end to pull down rebounds and put away Seminole possessions.
“All we needed to do was stop on D, get to the paint and play how we play,” Anaya said outside the Bronchos’ locker room after the win, slapping hands with teammates walking by.
“It shows out when we finally do it.”
Miguel Fonseca scored a game-high 22 points while Isaac Hernandez scored 17 and Anaya totaled 16 inside, for a Bronchos team that outscored Seminole 24-14 in the second quarter to take a 33-27 lead into halftime, before adding to the lead to take a 56-43 lead into the fourth.
Midway through the second quarter, Hernandez knocked down a 12-footer on the baseline to put Odessa High in front at 16-15, Anaya recorded a defensive rebound on the other end, then on offense, pulled down another board and scored on the put-back to put the Bronchos up 18-15 with 4:46 until the half.
Out of a Seminole timeout, the Bronchos’ defense kept its clamps down, before Odessa High’s Kaleb Murry cut into the late to score, then off a Seminole turnover, Anaya scored again to put Odessa High up 22-15 and cap a 13-2 run for the Bronchos to start the second quarter.
Odessa High took that six-point lead into the break, then exploded back out on the floor early in the third, as Fonseca knocked down a 3-pointer to put Odessa High up 41-29 and cap an 8-2 run in the first minute and a half of the third frame.
In the fourth, Seminole cut the margin to within 10 points at one moment midway through the break, but Anaya’s slam dunk put Odessa High back up 11 at 68-57 with three minutes left, then a defensive stop and an and-1 conversion put it seemingly out of reach at 71-57 with 2:34 to go.
Fonseca drained five 3-pointers in the win. Friday’s victory marked the Bronchos’ home opener. They opened the season earlier this week with a 63-33 road win at Fort Stockton.
“We’re 2-0, and it’s a great feeling,” Fonseca said.
Early in Friday’s game, the Bronchos struggled on offense, failing to work the offense through Anaya and the Bronchos forwards inside.
Odessa High knocked down its first three 3-pointers in the opening minutes — but proved to live and die by those outside shots in the first quarter. After hitting its first three from range, Odessa High missed its next four shots from range, on its way to scoring just nine points from those three early 3-pointers in the opening frame, as Seminole charged ahead early.
“The start of the game was slow. It was not good at all. We were getting no paint touches, which is the foundation of our offense,” Morris said.
But, into the second, his Bronchos got that going.
“We started getting paint touches, and we started getting layups, and wide-open shots. It’s amazing how that works,” he laughed.
Fonseca saw the difference for the Bronchos on the floor. As the offense worked inside-out, Fonseca knocked down three 3-pointers in the Bronchos’ big third quarter, including one that dropped right at the quarter buzzer to put Odessa High up by 13 going into the fourth.
Fonseca scored 12 of his 22 in the second half.
“We weren’t boxing out. They were getting a lot of offensive rebounds. But we pushed through it,” Fonseca said.
“Coach told us to get to the paint, make an extra pass, finish at the rim — that’s what we did,” he added.
Carter Laramore and Clayton Medlin led Seminole with 19 points each.
