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LAREDO, Texas - Laredo United unleashed a perimeter attack from the 3-point line and never looked back in an impressive 72-43 win over Laredo United South on Saturday.

Laredo United (6-1 District 30-6A) connected on 13 3-pointers with five coming in the opening quarter as the Longhorns started to pull away early.

The Longhorns Diego Saldana was relentless Saturday afternoon, scoring a game-high 27 points and along the way knocking down six 3-pointers. 

It did not take Laredo United long to flex its offensive muscle, jumping out to an 8-0 lead on back-to-back 3’s from Saldana and a basket from Carlos Castro in a span of two minutes, forcing an early timeout by Laredo United South.

The Panthers were without head coach Carmelo Gonzalez, who was not available for the game. Varsity assistant coach Daniel Gonzalez took over the reins for Saturday’s game and called a timeout to get Laredo United South back into rhythm.

Laredo United South finally got on the board on a triple from Armando Garza at the 5:12 mark. The Longhorns responded with a 9-0 run to build a commanding 17-3 edge with 2:54 left in opening quarter. When everything had settled from the first quarter, Laredo United had connected on five 3-pointers to build a 23-9 lead. 

With the offense firing on all cylinders, the Longhorns defense was difficult to penetrate - and that was one of the reasons Laredo United South had a hard time finding the basket. The Longhorns limited the Panthers to one shot as they controlled the boards with Luis Arzuaga, Victor Koo, and Nicolas Cruz. 

The trio were the driving force in grabbing rebounds to ignite Laredo United’s transition offense that was quick down the court.

It is no secret the Laredo United South offense runs through Jacob Trevino, who did everything in his power to get the Panthers back on track. But Trevino kept getting double and triple-teamed anytime he attacked the basket. 

Laredo United gave Arzuaga the defensive assignment and he was able to limit Trevino’s opportunities at the basket. Trevino only had four points in the first quarter and worked hard for all 17 of his points.

Laredo United showed no signs of slowing down on offense as they followed their 23-point performance by burning the nets for 26 points in the second quarter. This time Saldana had plenty of help from freshman Javon Colbert who poured in six of his 12 points in the frame. Colbert hit his second triple and had three in the game. 

Arzuaga also got rolling on offense hitting two 3’s and a basket in the second quarter and went on to finish with 12 points and help Laredo United take a 49-20 halftime lead. 

Halftime did little to slow down Laredo United while Laredo United South could not find an answer on the court. The Panthers offense was nowhere to be found while on the defensive end Laredo United was quick with the trigger from the perimeter or attacking the basket - and no one did that better than Saldana who had 12 points in the third quarter. 

Trevino was all of Laredo United South’s offense in the third quarter, scoring six of the Panthers' eight points and icing two free throws along the way. Despite all of his efforts Laredo United led 68-28 to build their biggest lead of the game.

With the game well in hand, Laredo United started to empty the bench throughout the fourth quarter to give the reserve players plenty of game time while the starting core rested. Laredo United South outscored Laredo United 13-4 in the fourth quarter but the hole that they dug themselves in the first half was too much to overcome.

Garza scored on a pair of 3-pointers while Oscar Medrano scored only his second basket of the game and Rey Trevino had a pair of layups. Laredo United’s only points came from Koo who had no problem spinning his way to the basket.

PHOTO GALLERY

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