By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
The Hanna Golden Eagles are back to their winning ways.
After a three-game losing streak that threatened their playoff chances, the Eagles punched their ticket to the postseason with a convincing 73-45 home win over the San Benito Greyhounds on Tuesday.
“They grew up. It was all those big, tough road games, we knew that would bring it out of them,” Hanna coach Todd Barckholtz said. “It made them come up another bar.
“We’ve been making silly mistakes here and silly mistakes there, and trying to clean them up. They’re 16, 17 and 18-year-old kids. They’re going to make mistakes. Tonight we learned from them.”
The game featured an abundance of scoring and was close during the early stages. The Eagles got off to a slow start but scored 13 points during the latter half of the opening quarter en route to a 17-14 lead after the first.
San Benito’s Jordan Briones scored his team’s first six points, and after converting five of six layup attempts he paced the Greyhounds with 10 first-quarter points.
Each side’s scoring prowess was absent early in the second. Neither team made a field goal until Hanna’s Alex Herrera hit a layup with 4:25 to go in the half.
Each team turned it on late, and the two squads combined for 18 points after Herrera’s basket.
Hanna led 28-24 at the break, but it wasn’t certain which team would pull ahead.
The Eagles, though, began to assert themselves during the third quarter.
A raucous Hanna fan base contributed to the demise in what was a critical game for each team.
“We didn’t show emotion out there offensively or defensively,” San Benito coach Eddie Abrego said. “For some odd reason something got them. Maybe the fans got them, I don’t know. What I tell the kids is that we don’t want to rely on excuses,we’ve got to rely on ourselves.
“You’ve got to give it to the fans, they rattle you. You’re not supposed to let that affect you, but they got into our heads. Home court always makes a difference.”
Andy Lopez netted 13 points during the third quarter, and Hanna led 54-41 at the start of the final quarter after outscoring the Greyhounds 26-17.
With one final chance to rally, the Greyhounds failed to find the bottom of the net for the entirety of the fourth aside from four late free throws.
Herrera led with 23 points, teammate Ed Messbarger tallied 17 and Lopez added 15. Christian Sierra paced the Greyhounds with 13 points, and Jordan Briones contributed 12.
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.