After a great season with the Bi-district and Area championship trophies in their name and a record of 32-1, the varsity boys basketball season is now over. They played on Tuesday at the Don Haskins against Andress High School in a game that many consider it to be one of the best games in El Paso high school history. The Highlanders came up on the short side. The final score was 58-44.
The matchup was between the then-ranked 4th (Bel Air) and 5th (Andress) ranked teams in the state. The Don was packed with a recorded at 9,910 people..
The leading scorers for the game was none other than the dynamic duo of seniors, Josh Gallegos and Jordan Enriquez. Gallegos had 12 while Enriquez had 14. The Highlanders struggled a bit shooting wise, going 0-12 from the three. They went into halftime trailing Andress 20-17. The Highlanders, led by Josh Gallegos, made a run in the fourth and scored three straight baskets to make it a 7-point game. ,Isaiah Aguilera, who is one of the best defensive players on the team, was in foul trouble all game. Aguilera fouled out in the fourth.
Aguilera reflected on the team’s performance after the game.
“Lots of calls didn’t go our way. The foul count was 15-2 in the fourth quarter. We played our hardest tonight as we did all season, but unfortunately we came up a bit short.”
Senior forward Michael Gutierrez agreed with Aguilera.
“There was lots of questionable calls in tonight’s game. We had a great season, and we accomplished a lot. I enjoyed playing with my brothers and being a,part of this team.”
Ruben Mendoza said he is ready for the off-season.
“We have to go into off season and prepare for next year. It’s going to feel different not having Josh, Jordan and Jeremy and the rest of the seniors on our team, but we will continue to play Bel Air basketball and we’re looking forward to next season.”
The Bel Air Highlanders are graduating Gallegos, ordan Enriquez, Jeremy Rios, Kevin Brown, Gutierrez, and Jesse Nuñez. They contributed to the team all throughout their high school career. Next year’s team is returning six payers. The team is now in Isaiah Aguilera and Isaiah Acosta’s hands, who have been on varsity since their sophomore year.