HARLINGEN — The Los Fresnos Falcons have been on a roll since losing to Harlingen South and Harlingen to start District 32-6A play earlier this month.
After dismissing Harlingen South on Tuesday night, the Falcons continued to right the early season wrongs Friday night, as they squeaked out a 68-65 win over the Cardinals in Harlingen.
It wasn’t an easy feat, however, as the Falcons outscored the Cards 9-6 in the final 2:14 of the fourth quarter.
After Los Fresnos’ Johnny Gomez hit a pair of free throws to put the Falcons up 68-65 with 5.8 seconds left, Harlingen’s Jordan Wilson missed what would have been a game-tying three at the buzzer.
In the second half alone, the Falcons saw their 11-point lead from the first half dissolve and also saw themselves claw back from a five-point deficit.
Still, Falcons head coach Marco Hinojosa will take the win.
“It was huge for us; I’m not going to lie. We needed this win so bad and the kids stepped up,” Hinojosa said. “We gave up a big lead, but the kids kept their composure and we came out with the win— we found a way. The kids have shown me in the last six games that they’re growing up and they want to get into the playoffs.”
The Falcons (17-10, 6-3) have now won six of their last seven and are holding on to a second-place spot behind Brownsville Hanna in 32-6A.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals (17-10, 3-6) find themselves in a three-game slump with six games to go and some ground to make up if they wish to get to the postseason.
The Cardinals led by five points twice, once to start the game and again late in the third, but could not get over the hump as turnovers and Falcons runs shut the door.
“We fought a lot harder in this game. We played with more intensity. Los Fresnos has been on a roll and we stood with them,” Harlingen head coach Greg Yates said. “They just made the plays down the stretch. They have good players and Marco (Hinojosa) is doing an excellent job with them over there. We need to cut down the turnovers and execute the offense better.”
Harlingen led 5-0 early in the first, but the Falcons took their biggest lead of the night by the second quarter after going up 33-22 on a three-point make.
The Falcons led 38-31 at the half, before both teams started the third quarter trading shots early.
Harlingen threw its best punch and took back the lead in the late third quarter on an Elijah Rhodes bucket with 1:57 left in the quarter to put Harlingen up 52-50.
The Cards ended the third on a 16-6 run after trailing by as much as seven in the quarter, but the Falcons won the fourth 16-10 to ice the game.
Los Fresnos was led by Gomez and Hugo De La Cruz, who each recorded 16 points for the Falcons.
Harlingen’s Rhodes led all scorers with 17.