BRIDGE CITY — Port Neches-Groves has beaten Vidor twice this season, but not in District 21-5A play.

“When you get into a tournament, you don’t know who you’ll be playing,” PNG coach Pat Abel said. “There’s always the chance of playing a district opponent, and you’d like to stay away from them, but when the game starts, you still have to go play the game and give the best game that you can. You don’t want to pull any punches. They’ll be a very tough team in district.”

PNG’s 58-51 victory over Vidor earned the Indians the Bridge City Cardinal Classic championship and their fourth win in two days.

“We really played as a team in this tournament,” said junior Noah Marchak, who had two points after scoring 21 against Bridge City earlier in the day. “We had looked to play together, and that’s really about it.”

PNG won the Classic by going 2-0 in the three-team Gold division after Friday’s pool play.

The Indians (13-8, 1-1 in 21-5A) have been successful against their own district opponents outside of league play. They also beat Vidor on a Drake Rojas three-point shot at the buzzer on Dec. 1 in the Nederland/YMBL Classic and defeated Cleveland 63-57 in overtime five days later in the Hardin-Jefferson Basketball Marathon, but lost the next day at H-J to Nederland 61-46 as part of a four-game slide.

This time, endurance was in the Indians’ favor.

“We always talk about being able to step up when somebody’s playing down or not having their best game,” Abel said. “It’s the ‘Rudy’ effect, where you’ve got to take the most of your moment when you get it. I feel like our kids jelled quite a bit the last two days. That’s progress toward working in the district.”

The Pirates, who are 0-2 in 21-5A, led 47-46 in the fourth quarter before the Indians all but broke the game open.

“Playing Vidor is pretty rough,” Marchak said. “They’re scrappy, but we play as a team. We bring it together as a unit, and we’ve gotten the job done twice.”

Drake Rojas scored 20 points, Trent Lee had 12 and Tracy Smith dropped nine for PNG, which led 25-24 at halftime after trailing 10-8 through one period.

Gavin Jarrell made four of Vidor’s six three-point baskets and had a game-high 23 points. Cesar Ponce scored 13 points and Devvon Creek had nine for the Pirates, who will resume action in 21-5A play Friday at home against Memorial.

Vidor and PNG will resume their rivalry Jan. 11 in Port Neches, with the return game Feb. 5.

 

PNG 67, Bridge City 58

Marchak had 14 of his 21 points in the second half, and the Indians beat their cross-Neches rivals earlier Saturday.

Tracy Smith did most of his damage in the second quarter, when he scored 10 of his 20 points in a back-and-forth frame. Bridge City (11-11) still had a 34-28 halftime lead.

The Indians went 6 for 6 at the free-throw line in the final period to seal the win after starting 4 for 8.

Vidor later defeated Bridge City 65-59 in overtime. Bridge City will play at Hardin-Jefferson on Friday.

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews