Flores leads Gibsonburg to TAAC win
GIBSONBURG -- As he’s done so many times this season, Mateo Flores had everything the Gibsonburg boys basketball team needed at just the moment the Golden Bears needed it Tuesday night.
But that hasn’t always been the case.
The Gibsonburg senior, playing his final game on the Golden Bears’ home floor, took over a close game in the third quarter and propelled his team to a 72-56 victory over Maumee Valley Country Day Tuesday night.
Flores has been spectacular for Gibsonburg this season, leading the Toledo Area Athletic Conference in scoring, but until this year, he had been a role player. He excelled defensively but deferred on offense to the Golden Bears’ ultra-successful senior class of a year ago. Now looked upon to be the team’s go-to option, Flores has not disappointed.
“Last year Jordan Kreglow pushed me a lot in practice. He told me every day ‘You’re going to be the point guard next year.’ He said ‘You’ll do fine, you’re a good player,’” Flores said. “I learned a lot from Jordan Kreglow.”
With his team holding a narrow four-point lead at halftime, Flores went to work. With his team ahead 38-35 early in the third quarter, Flores scored twice and assisted on another basket to spur his team to a 10-point lead. He then closed the quarter with an assist on an alley-oop layup to Nick Kille and then connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to give Gibsonburg a 55-39 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Just 30 seconds into the final period, he drained another 3-pointer, his fourth of the night, and followed the basket by coming up with a steal on defense and assisting on a layup by Marcus Tille which pushed the lead to 21 points.
“I know the other team knows I’m the go-to guy so they pressure me,” Flores said. “I try to get around it and get my teammates the ball.”
Flores, who entered the night averaging 19 points, scored a game-high 27 points to go with four assists and a pair of steals.
“He has a knack for scoring,” Gibsonburg coach Brent Liskai said. “He had it for us last year but we had so many scorers. He’s so quick off the dribble, he figures out when to score and lately he’s hitting them from outside which is something we haven’t seen form him in a long time.”
Kille added 21 for the Golden Bears, who improved to 13-7 overall, 10-4 in the TAAC.
Stat book
Maumee Valley 16-15-8-17 — 56
Gibsonburg 19-16-20-17 — 72
Maumee Valley: 19 14-22 56. 3FG, 4 (Isaza 2, Herrmann, McGee). Rebounds, 33 (Herrmann 8, McGee 8), Turnovers, 23, Assists, 6 (Johnson 4), Steals, 3. Scoring: Isaza 3 4-5 12, Woodley 1 0-2 2, Herrmann 5 2-2 13, McGee 3 2-5 9, Johnson 6 4-6 16, Brandon 1 2-2 4.
Gibsonburg: 29 7-19 72. 3FG, 7 (Flores 4, Kille 3). Rebounds, 23 (Jahna 5), Turnovers, 10, Assists, 14 (Flores 4), Steals, 8 (Jahna 3). Scoring: Flores 9 5-9 27, Jahna 2 0-0 4, Tille 1 0-0 2, Arriaga 1 0-2 2, Ernsthausen 3 0-0 6, Weaver 2 0-1 4, Kille 9 0-2 21, Gomez 1 0-2 2, Picciuto 0 1-2 1, Richards 1 1-1 3.