By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
The game came down to the final seconds, but St. Joseph Academy held on for a 67-65 win over the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers on Tuesday night at St. Joseph.
With just more than one minute remaining, the Bloodhounds held a five-point lead over the Chargers after a Julio Garcia score, but the Chargers called a timeout and shortened the deficit with a 5-2 run.
Aaron Villarreal sank two baskets and Isaiah Torres hit a free throw to cap an and-1 with nine seconds remaining to make the score 66-65 in favor of the ’Hounds.
However, with one second left in the game, Villarreal’s desperation in-bounds pass from the far end of the court flew out of bounds, sealing the Bloodhounds’ victory.
St. Josephwas in the position it was because of strong fourth-quarter defense and an aggressive offense that put it in the bonus.
“I think our defense is what won us this game today,” SJA coach Sam Lucio said. “There were some rough patches there in the third quarter, but in the fourth quarter I think the defense really came through for us.”
The Chargers were playing from behind for most of the game, putting themselves in a deficit during the early stages of each half.
“We came out slow, but I think St. Joe did a good job,” Brownsville Veterans coach Larry Gibson said. “They deserved to win the game tonight. We didn’t execute. That was the worst thing we did today.”
Brownsville Veterans fell behind 9-0 early, missing its first 11 shots. But a 3-pointer by Joseph Guerrero got the Chargers on the board, and they went on a 14-4 run to pull within one point midway through the second quarter.
St. Josephanswered with a run of its own, though, with back-to-back baskets by Sean Cantu and a three-point play from Ian Teo’ong to pull ahead 22-17.
Brownsville Veterans missed its first four shots and allowed Garcia and Cantu to score six straight points.
However, Jeremiah Meyers and Tristan Oguin fought back and pulled the Chargers to within two points. The two teams were tied during the final seconds of the third quarter when Guerrero hit a 3-pointer as time expired.
The fourth quarter mostly was back and forth until Jorge De La Garza and Joey Navarro shot the Bloodhounds to a lead they sustained the rest of the game.
Garcia let the Bloodhounds with 16 points and seven rebounds, and Cantu added 14 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Meyers led all scorers with 22 points and five steals.
Each team will next play during the Brownsville Tournament that runs from Thursday through Saturday.
Adam Kujawski covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @adamkujo1.