Basketball: Permian's Bueno content to do the dirty work

He has none of the advantages that most post players possess.

He is short. Not the kind of guy to impress fans with aerial acrobatics. Not the kind of guy who always finds a spot on the highlight reels.

But he has become one of Permian's toughest players, a scrapper who embodies the work ethic Panthers head coach Danny Wright has been trying to teach his team.

The X-Man.

Xavier Bueno, a 5-foot-11 senior, spent most of the Panthers' first nine games on the bench. Through the first nine games of the season Bueno had scored a grand total of nine points.

Then Panthers' big man Jordan Wilborn went down with an injury.

Bueno - who has been nicknamed "X" by his teammates - responded with a 16-point, seven-rebound performance against Lubbock Coronado.

"I finally got my chance to get in the game, so I decided to go ahead and use it to the fullest," Bueno said. "I just kept going to the hole."

Ever since Bueno's breakout performance against the Mustangs, Permian hasn't had to worry about scoring inside.

Bueno has averaged 9.1 points per game - second only to Panthers' leading scorer Tyrone Moorer - over the course of the past seven games.

"He has done nothing more than ask to guard the other team's best big man, box out, and grab, seven to 10 rebounds per game," Wright said. "He's been one of our best inside players."

Bueno's confidence has grown with each passing performance.

Shortly after the Panthers' game against Lubbock Coronado, Bueno walked up to Wright and issued a startling assessment of his own play.

"Coach, don't worry about rebounds," Bueno told Wright. "I'm a beast.

Wright laughed off the incident at first. High school kids tend to joke around a lot.

But Bueno has lived up to those words.

"He is a beast," Wright said. "He is a tough guy on the floor. ‘X' is the one who does the dirty work."

Bueno has always played the post.

Back in the eighth grade, when he started playing basketball seriously, he was one of the tallest players on the floor.

Everybody else kept growing. He only picked up an inch or two.

With the help of Permian assistant coach Joe Flores and Wright, though, he kept developing his inside game.

His family made sure he had the strength to bang inside.

Bueno's father has always been a gym rat. So have his older brothers. Bueno picked up the bug from the rest of the family.

Before basketball season began Bueno was waking up at 5 a.m., every day, to work out.

"He'd get up in the morning, be at school the entire day, then go work out again," said his mother, Jennifer. "Sometimes he'd be gone all day."

Permian needed a nine-to-five plugger in its lineup.

At the beginning of the season Permian was a flashy, turnover-prone team with a penchant for giving up leads.

Behind Bueno's example the Panthers are slowly morphing into a hustling, attacking squad that has won three of its last four games.

"Before the start of district there was a lot of tension in the locker room," Bueno said. "Once we got that out of the way, we started winning."

Wright wants his players to put the team first.

And there might not be a better example than Bueno.

Part of his job description includes clearing out opposing players so teammate Warren Clark can use his leaping ability to get to the ball.

Not a problem.

Bueno doesn't care who gets the glory. He wants to keep getting better.

He wants the team to keep winning.

"He's still not quite satisfied," Jennifer said. "He thinks he can do a whole lot better."

The X-Man never stops working.