TORNILLO, Texas (KTSM) – Tornillo boys basketball is tearing up the competition in the 2022-23 season.
Tornillo currently possess a 22-1 overall record and 5-0 District 4-3A record so far this season. That has led to Tornillo being ranked in the Top 25 Class 3A Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC) poll for the third straight week. Tornillo made their debut in the TABC poll at No. 22 in the beginning of January. Since then, the Coyotes have held the No. 21 spot in the rankings.
“We are such a small school in El Paso and to be state recognized that is a big accomplishment.” Tornillo boys basketball head coach Luis Vega said.
“I’ve been in varsity since I was a freshman and this is the first time we’ve been ranked,” Tornillo senior guard Jesus Delgado said. “It feels like the hard work is paying off.”
Tornillo is running through the competition as they’ve won 22 of their 23 games so far this season. They’ve beaten their opponents by an average of 25.9 points per game. One player responsible for a good chunk of those points is Jesus Delgado. The senior guard is averaging 20.8 points per game and eclipsed 2,000 points in his high school career to make him Tornillo’s all-time leading scorer last month.
“I grew up here in Tornillo. I graduated in 1998. We had very good teams with Coach Russell back in the day and we had outstanding players, but since I grew up here and coached here for such a long time, I’d never seen anybody like him,” Vega said, “He’s just a different player there. Overall, he is a scorer, rebounder, defender, overall, a good player.”
I love it because it opens up so many opportunities not just for me to score but because other teams know that I can score, they put more pressure on me and that leaves my teammates open to score so it leaves everybody up for success,” Delgado said. “If our team wins, I win that is all pretty much I care about.”
Tornillo has eight more games remaining on the regular season schedule. The team has made it a goal to win the district title, to make it back-to-back years, but it also has its sight set on more playoff success.
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I think this year we want to get far into the playoffs. We want to try to make it to the regional tournament.” Delgado said.
“I’d like to get another banner up there and as many as we can,” Tornillo boys basketball senior forward Victor Valenzuela said. “I think getting more is a great opportunity.”
“It’s just something that we just want to push more and more and more and set that standard for other generations coming through Tornillo basketball.” Vega said.
Tornillo (22-1, 5-0 District 4-3A) will be back in action on Friday, Jan. 20 when they host Crane (9-15, 2-3 District 4-3A) at Tornillo High School. Tipoff is at 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time.
