Second-half defensive surge propels Rattlers to 13th straight win

The San Marcos Holiday Classic tipped off Wednesday morning from ‘The Snake Pit’ as No. 16 San Marcos (19-2) defeated the Canutillo Eagles (7-6), 55-39, with a second-half boost on the defensive end.

Coming out of the Christmas Break can oftentimes be hard to shake off the rust and get back into a rhythm, as the Rattlers trailed the Eagles at halftime. In the second half, San Marcos got back to its identity with its man-to-man pressure defense paving the way to its 13th straight win.

“First game after Christmas for all teams can be a little nerve racking,” head coach Dan Miller said. “There is always a little bit of rust you have to shake off, and we definitely had some. Credit goes to [Canutillo], they did a great job mixing up their zone, we had a sloppy first half.”

Each team was slow off the jump, trading baskets throughout the first quarter, playing to a 12-12 deadlock after the first eight minutes. With the slow start for the Rattlers, about midway through the first quarter, Miller turned to his second unit to give the team some needed momentum.

“Honestly, we just needed to go to the bench today because our first group was not off to a good start today,” Miller said. “As we start to get all our pieces back [Kaden Gumbs first game back], we feel like if our first group isn’t going we can trust our bench to keep us in it.

To end the first quarter, senior guard Ezequiel Davila added his only basket of the game to beat the first quarter buzzer to notch the game at 12.

“Our bench goes against us every day in practice, and coach [Miller] splits us up five and five since we got our football guys back,” said senior forward Malik Presley. “Our bench is good and it shows we have depth and will help us in our playoff run.”

In the second quarter, the Rattlers still struggled on the offensive end with getting their shots to fall and turning the ball over, as the Eagles — behind their senior point guard Gio Gutierrez game-high 15-points  — went into the break clinging to a 21-20 lead.

The Rattlers came out in the second half with more intensity and set the tone early in the third quarter on the defensive end to propel them to the tournament win.

“Defense. We really turned it up on defense in the second half,” Presley said. “That really can’t happen to start the game, we have to come out with the same type of intensity from the start. We will get better at that.”

Riding their seniors’ leadership on the defensive end with senior forward Matellus Perkins, Presley, Gumbs, and senior guard Jayven Cofer, the Rattlers were able to hold the Eagles to just 18-total points in the final two quarters.

“The leadership by those seniors on defense, as they know we weren’t feeling it on offense in the first half, and they knew we were going to have to win it with our defense,” Miller said. “Jayven’s charges were big, and the hustle plays we had in the second half were not there in the first half. Zyair [Jolivette] dove onto the floor and really set the tone. We talked about dominating the effort plays, and that’s what we got back to.”

San Marcos outscored Canutillo 35-18 in the second half behind a double-double from Perkins who had 10-points and 11-rebounds.

“I am just playing my role out there, and doing what Coach Miller asks me to do to help the team win,” Perkins said.

With Perkins setting the tone in the middle for the Rattlers on both ends of the floor, Presley was able to get comfortable on the offensive end in the second half as he scored eight of his 12 points after the break. Even though his shot was not falling like normal, the senior forward was still looking for other ways to impact the game to help the team win.

“I always look for other ways to impact the game,” Presley said. “Rather that is rebounding, playing defense, facilitating, and doing other things to help his teammates get better.

His final bucket came on a layup on a fast break, which was his 2,000th career point in a San Marcos uniform.

“He would be the first to tell you, it wasn’t his best game, but he did whatever he needed to do to help get the win,” the Rattler head coach said of Presley. “To have someone score 2,000 points at one school is unheard of. What I love about this team is they celebrate each other more than themselves. We didn’t have our best game, but they still celebrated Malik’s 2,000.”

The Rattlers second game in the holiday tournament was Wednesday evening against Magnolia. San Marcos will be back Thursday against Katy-Taylor and Hallsville at 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., respectively.