Former college, high school stars scoring big

EDINBURG - Players Inc., an adult men's basketball team, began in 1996. The team currently consists of 13 players, who play across the Rio Grande Valley and in tournaments throughout the state. The group recently won the championship title in the 32-team San Antonio Cinco De Mayo tournament, finishing with a 6-0 record.

Among the team's highlights through the years is a game last year against fellow Valley competition when Players Inc. scored  233 points in the victory. Overall, Players Inc. is  1,120-165 since 1996.

The team's player/coach Peter Rosales was interviewed by The Monitor earlier this week.

Q: How do you score  233 points in a game?

A: Run and gun. We press right from the beginning and we go full-court man-to-man. We play unselfish, we always have, and we wouldn't allow a selfish player on the team. In the case of the game where we scored 233 points, we hit 72 threes.

Q: How many 3-pointers did you miss?

A: Not many. Not many at all.

Q: So, if you guys scored 233 points, what about the other team?

A: They scored 100. We just pushed the ball up the court. If they made a shot, we hit three or four before they hit another one. ... Toward the end they  were trying to stall.

Q: You can't really blame them, can you?

A: No, at that point they probably just wanted the game to be over with.

Q: To be honest, I still don't get how your team scored 233 points in a 40 minute game (20-minute halves). What type of team is this, the Valley's Dream Team?

A: Well, we've got some pretty famous people from across the Valley. We have Lalo Rios, Eric Montalvo, Alex Robles, Nick Soto, Kevin Mitchell, Danny Richardson, Ray Navarro, Lucio Rodriguez, Martin Peña, Ruben Zavala, Juan Muñiz, George Olvera and myself.

Q: That explains a lot, doesn't it?

A: Yeah, these guys can really play. There's no question about it.

Q: Who's the best player on your team?

A: The top one, right now, I'd say is Lalo Rios. He's holds the record for our team and for the Edinburg recreation league for points in a game. During the game when we scored 233 points, Lalo went for 83 points. He had 27 threes in the game.

Q: The legend of Lalo Rios continues?

A: Yeah, Lalo can still play ball. He's 30 now, so he's not as quick as he used to be, but he can still play. I mean, we're talking about a guy that made 27 3-pointers in a game.

Q: Do you have a tough time finding competition?

A: We've had teams not show up because they know they're playing us. They just forfeit games. That's kind of tough when a team just doesn't show up. We're competitive.