By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
Three teams move on to the next round, and one’s just getting started.
The Metro-area takes over Corpus Christi, as the Los Fresnos Falcons, Pace Vikings and Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers play their UIL area-round playoff games at different schools in the city – all tonight. Also in action will be the St. Joseph Academy Bloodhounds, who start their TAPPS regional playoff tournament in College Station with a game against one of the top private school teams in Texas.
Los Fresnos rolls into the Class 6A area round with a game against the Laredo Alexander Bulldogs. The District 32-6A champs, the 19th-ranked Class 6A team in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches’ final poll, will have to play their best basketball of the season to advance to Friday’s second-round.
“(Laredo) Alexander is a great team with a great tradition,” Los Fresnos coach Marco Hinojosa said. “We are going to have to execute on both ends and play perfect basketball to just be able to compete with them. But with that being said, the guys know all of that and are ready for the challenge.”
Hinojosa said Los Fresnos has worked on some of the things that allowed Weslaco East to make a late comeback in the bi-district game, but his team didn’t change its approach in practice in the days leading up to game day.
“We just talked about taking care of the basketball and doing a better job of rebounding,” he said. “Practices have not changed.”
Los Fresnos plays Laredo Alexander at 7 p.m. at Corpus Christi Carroll.
A 51-38 win over Edinburg High in bi-district action set up Brownsville Veterans to play the Laredo United Longhorns in the Class 6A area round.
United comes into the game as District 31-5A’s top seed, and has height in the paint.
Pace, the District 32-5A champions, are heading into a Class 5A area-round bout against the Victoria East Titans, and are working to keep their dream season going.
“The kids have been working hard as usual,” Pace coach Jose Luis Ramirez said. “We are proud of what we accomplished but we know we are not satisfied. We want the area championship.”
“Victoria East is a tough team, but so are we and we will fight to get our crown.”
Pace’s game against Victoria East starts at 7:30 p.m. at Corpus Christi King.
Brownsville Veterans takes on the Laredo United Longhorns in a battle between small-ball squad and another with strength in the paint. Chargers coach Larry Gibson has a feeling that it’s going to take his team’s best to beat District 31-5A’s top team.
“They are a good team, with a big guy in the middle at about 6-foot, 6-inches,” Gibson said. “We will have to execute our offense and play team defense. We really need to push the ball and attack. We won 29 games and the kids want 30. I promise you, they will give their all.”
Brownsville Veterans is scheduled to play Laredo United at 7:30 p.m. at Corpus Christi Moody.
Tuesday’s win gave the Chargers some much-needed confidence heading into the game.
“They had a great practice (Thursday), and are feeling good about their chances,” Gibson said.
St. Joseph plays the Addison Trinity Christian Trojans in the first round of the TAPPS regional tournament.
The Bloodhounds met Addison Trinity Christian, ranked 2nd in the TABC large private schools pool, in the first round of the playoffs last season and lost 60-56 to the eventual state runners-up.
St. Joseph coach Sam Lucio thinks playing a familiar opponent that returns most of last year’s team will help the Bloodhounds.
“They’re confident, but I’m trying to keep them from getting overconfident,” Lucio said. “They know that we played them in a really good game (last year), which gives them confidence that we have a good chance.”
Lucio said the Bloodhounds have put their 0-6 district record behind and are focused on the task at hand.
“It’s been a tough district. It’s been really tough,” he said. “They’re playing hard, playing good and we ran into some good, tough teams. We’ve showed some flashes of the team we wanted to be, and hopefully it will come around Friday and we’ll get a big win.”
The Bloodhounds face Addison Trinity Christian at 9 p.m. at A&M Consolidated.
Joshua McKinney covers high school sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter, he’s @joshuabvherald.