12/20/2025
This afternoon at Veterans Memorial High School in Mission, the Mission Eagles defeated the Mission Veterans Patriots by a score of 52-43. Not only was this game a hoops version of the Battle of Conway, but it was also a game that featured a head-to-head matchup between, the Eagles’ head coach Sam Cortez, going up against one of his former players at McAllen Memorial High School, the Patriots’ head coach Jose Ramos.
As was the case in the girls’ game, which preceded this game, Mission jumped out to an early lead against Mission Veterans. At the end of the first quarter, the score was 15-5 in favor of the Eagles. The second quarter would belong to the Patriots however as they seemed to hit just about every shot they took, including five three-pointers. As a result the Patriots overcame the 10 point first quarter deficit to tie the game at 29-29 at the half.
However, the Eagles came out of halftime hot and outscored the Patriots 12-4 in the third quarter. They followed that up with 11 points in the fourth quarter to the Patriots’ 10 points to seal the victory in their favor.
Pablo Zapata was the Eagles’ leading scorer with 18 points while senior Leon Villarreal contributed 16 points of his own in the win. For the Patriots, Aurelio Chavero hit six three-pointers, four of those in the second quarter, and added two free throws to lead all scorers with a total of 20 points.
“It’s always big when you win on the road, especially against a city rival. We thought we had put this game away early but it helps when they hit five 3’s. And now we’re tied at the half. So a lot of props to (Patriots’) Coach Ramos, getting them fired up to not give up. I’m kind of proud on his part to,” Eagles’ head Coach Sam Cortez said after the game.
The Patriots, have suffered injuries to two of their key players recently, Joshua Ojeda and Kaiden Espino, both of whom were seen on crutches before the game. And this was something they could not seem to overcome against a talented team like the Eagles. This is something both coaches acknowledged after the game.
“They’re missing a couple of kids,” Cortez said. “At the beginning, they were clicking. But unfortunately, he (Ramos) had some injuries. But you know what, you gotta move on. And he’s got a young group and we’re a little experienced. So right there, all I needed was one stop and our experience took over there.”
“We played our game in the second quarter,” Ramos said. “That’s what we’ve been doing all year. Obviously it helps when you have a guy (Ojeda) down low who’s 6’5”. You know that helps you with those second chances and third chances. So it gives us more opportunities to shoot. So we’re still working on that. We’ve had a lot of changes. Kaiden Espino also got hurt. And he’s a big part. He was a starter also. So we’re still trying to figure out the right rotation, the right guys. And all we can do right now is to give 100%.”
With the win the Eagles improved to 2-0 (14-6 overall) while the Patriots dropped to 0-2 (13-6 overall) with the loss.
Here are some photos from this afternoon’s game. To view more, click here:
https://progresstimes.smugmug.com/Sports/VeteransMemorial/December-19-2025-Boys-Basketball-Mission-vs-VMHSMM
Progress Times photos by Mario Magallon.
