By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
The Los Fresnos Falcons erased a 54-40 fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime against the Sharyland High Rattlers on Tuesday night in Los Fresnos.
However, the Rattlers’ Andres Cantu righted the ship and scored five of his team’s six points during the four-minute extra period to give his team a 69-65 non-district win.
At the end of the third quarter, the Rattlers were ahead by 12 points and in control. However, Los Fresnos scored 23 fourth-quarter points, including a layup by Johnny Gomez at the buzzer to force extra time.
“I told the kids, ‘They’re not going to hit (shots) all night,’” Marco Hinojosa said. “(Sharyland High) shot lights out the first half.
“The kids fought hard, we gave ourselves a chance, we went into overtime, but at the end of the day, they hit more shots than we did. They deserve to win.”
The explosive final quarter was headlined by Hugo de la Cruz’s eight points, as he made two field goals and went 4 of 5 from the free-throw line.
“We have this quote we like to talk about,” Sharyland High coach David Keith said. “It’s, ‘We can’t accept in victory what we wouldn’t accept in defeat.’
“We’re happy with the win, but there’s a lot of things that happened tonight that we just can’t accept.”
The breakout fourth quarter was needed because, after halftime, Sharyland High extended its 38-34 lead by outscoring the Falcons 16-8 during the third.
“We were hoping to bring some of that into the fourth, but credit to Los Fresnos, they played hard. They didn’t want to let it go,” Keith said.
The teams were even for most of the first half. The Rattlers were shooting well from long range, but Los Fresnos did a good job keeping pace.
That was until 4:24 remained in second quarter, when Sharyland High coach David Kieth called a timeout. His team followed the break with nine straight points, prompting a late timeout by Los Fresnos coach Marco Hinojosa.
The Falcons narrowed the deficit before halftime after David Kizer found the free-throw line twice during the final 24 seconds, hitting three of his four attempts.
“Sharyland is a great team,” Hinojosa said. “They’re one of the best teams in the Valley without a doubt.
“We’ve got a lot of room for improvement. I schedule these tough teams for a reason. We want to get better, and (Sharyland High) made us better tonight.”
Cantu led all scorers with 23 points, and teammate Joshua Ruiz kicked in 14. De la Cruz led the way for the Falcons with 21 points, and teammate Alex Garcia added 15
Los Fresnos will have a two-week break before it plays host to McAllen Memorial at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 30. Sharyland High will next play in the PSJA ISD Tri-City Classic tournament against Odessa New Wayat 2:30 p.m. Thursday at PSJA Memorial.
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.