Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Salata earns MVP honors at national tournament

Los Lunas resident helped San Jose team win national Hispanic basketball tourney

Glen Rosales For The Albuquerque Journal

Los Lunas Wally Salata recently stuck a great big silver dagger into the heart of the axiom that those who can't do, teach.

Salata, the Rio Grande boys basketball coach, proved his prowess on the court over Labor Day weekend, helping a team from San Jose, Calif., win the over-40 division in the annual National Hispanic Basketball Tournament in Phoenix.

Actually, he didn't just contribute to the team going undefeated in five games. He was instrumental throughout the event, earning MVP honors as decided by tournament officials.

"I did pretty well," he admitted. "I averaged about 25 points a game."

Salata, a former Los Lunas High School boys basketball coach who turns 43 in November, was on fire from the outside. So much so that in the championship game, the opposing team from Mexico, in a rematch of an earlier game, threw the box-and-one defense at Salata.

"Some of those guys played on the Mexican national team in their day," he said. "They were a good team and they really knew the game."

The Los Lunas resident has been attending this tournament for 15 years, but this is the first time he's come home with the big trophy, which now proudly rests in his office in the South Valley.

Only a few of his players who have been in his office and seen the new trophy know about his success, but he plans to use it as a motivating factor for his players.

"For my high school players, it will be good," he said. "The players always like to be able to say that their coach can still play. That gives them a little hope that he knows what he's doing."

What's more, because most of the players from the Ravens state tournament team have graduated, Salata plans to use this success as a lesson plan.

"It's something good to tell the kids that you can do anything you put your mind to, no matter how old you are," he said. "We're going to be young with a lot of inexperience to overcome."

There's a further lesson for the players as Salata came back from the tournament with a tender hamstring and a large bruise on his hip suffered when he dove on the floor after a loose ball.

"I want them to do the same things," he said of playing hard. "This lets them know that I practice what I preach."

It's also a pretty clear message that he still has game and can compete at a high level.

"It was nice to go down there and have some success," he said. "The first game, we blew them out, and the second game, we were up by 20 at halftime and ended up winning by three. That was the turning point of the tournament. Every other game, we won by 10 to 15 points."

As for getting the MVP, that was an honor, Salata said, but not nearly as much as taking home the first-place trophy.

"As a player, you don't get a chance to win national championships too often," he said. "It's something that's very nice. It's very special. Knowing I can still play and compete with guys my own age is a good feeling."

Salata and Albuquerque High graduate Willie Sanchez were the only New Mexicans on the roster, but they've gone to the tournament before with a team of locals. Salata is hopeful that can be the case in the future as well.

He's also the all-time leading scorer in the Los Lunas Men's Basketball League.

"It was nice to have somebody else from here to experience this with. Now these guys (from San Jose) want us to play with them in some other national tournaments in Las Vegas and San Antonio, and if the times work out, that would be pretty fun," he said. "But I hope we can get together an over-40 team (from here) to go down there (Phoenix) in the next couple of years."

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