MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
SAN BENITO — With nothing to play for but pride, the San Benito Greyhounds embraced a new role: spoiler.
After being down by double digits in the first half, the Greyhounds put the clamps on defense in the second half and pulled out a 55-51 win over the Los Fresnos Falcons to deny them an outright District 32-6A championship.
The loss gives the Falcons (21-11, 10-4) just their second loss after starting district play 0-2 and gives them one of three shares of the district title.
Harlingen South (16-14, 10-4) and Brownsville Hanna (21-6, 10-4) also earned a share with wins over Lopez and Brownsville Rivera, respectively.
San Benito, which erased a nine-point halftime deficit, took its second and final lead of the second half on a Joey Saucedo layup following a Falcons turnover with under a minute to play.
Saucedo was fouled and the three-point play made the score 52-50 with under a minute left.
Los Fresnos’ Roy Quesada had a chance to tie the game at 52 with 18.6 seconds to play after being fouled on a layup try, but split free throws.
San Benito’s Daniel Roa and Cristian Sierra iced the game with free throws.
Los Fresnos grabbed a lead with solid defense and San Benito ended the game down the stretch the same way, much to the liking of head coach Eddie Abrego.
“I told the guys late to roll up the sleeves and go to work. The guys matched what I told them to do and it turned out well, but that’s a good Los Fresnos team,” Abrego said. “Unfortunately, this was just a pride game and we needed to bring it for us and the fans. Still, it was a difficult district and it was fun to play in.”
San Benito dug themselves into a double-digit deficit as turnovers and missed shots plagued them in the first half.
While Los Fresnos had the upper hand for most of the game and the lead, the missed shots by San Benito is what made the game one-sided to start.
Los Fresnos head coach Marco Hinojosa went as far as to say his team was “outhustled” from the get go Tuesday.
That was most apparent in the final quarter in which Los Fresnos scored just six points and no field goals.
“San Benito out played us all game; credit to them. They outhustled us, outmuscled us, out everything from start to finish,” Hinojosa said. “San Benito wanted to win this game and we didn’t; they deserved this win.
“Our kids know how to come back from a loss; they have all year.”
The Falcons made their first run in the opening quarter, finishing it on a 14-6 run and with a 19-11 lead.
At half, the Falcons led 32-23, but saw the Greyhounds chip away at that margin and even took a brief lead on a Jordan Briones layup with 1:22 to go in the third.
The Falcons only managed 18 second-half points, including just six free throws in a fourth-quarter lousy with turnovers forced by the San Benito press defense.
Los Fresnos’ Johnny Gomez scored 14 for the Falcons and was the only on the team to reach double digits, while San Benito’s Joey Saucedo scored 20 to lead all scoring.
Briones added 11.
PLAYOFF PAIRINGS: A 32-6A tie-breaking coin toss gave Los Fresnos the first seed, Harlingen South the second seed and Hanna the third Tuesday night.
In bi-district play, Los Fresnos will face PSJA North, South will face Edinburg and Hanna draws Edinburg North.
Times and locations will be determined later today.