Basketball Recap: Luca De La Paz Key Part of a Team Effort in Bulldogs Win

There's no place like home for Braddock, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Monday. They walked away with a 61-49 victory over the Varela Vipers on Friday. That's the second time they've managed to beat them this season, as they also won 60-58 back in December of 2024.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Braddock to victory, but perhaps none more so than Luca De La Paz, who dropped a double-double on 19 points and ten rebounds. De La Paz has been hot recently, having posted eight or more boards the last four times he's played. Another player making a difference was Jayden Figueroa, who went 5 for 8 on his way to 13 points along with six rebounds and five steals.

When it comes to explaining why Varela lost, don't look at Alex Perez. Despite the final result, he dropped a double-double on 23 points and ten boards. The dominant performance also gave Perez a new career-high in blocks (two). Aaron Reyes was another key player, putting up nine points and three steals.

Braddock's win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 9-13. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to three-point shooting accuracy: their three-point shooting accuracy was 37.1% in those games and 23.9% outside of them. As for Varela, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 9-7.

Braddock has already played their next matchup, a 66-53 loss against Central on the 28th. As for Varela, they also wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next game, a 75-45 victory against Killian on the 28th.