HARLINGEN — The Harlingen South Hawks weathered storms and took the Los Fresnos Falcons’ best shots, but they were not to be denied.
Down two with four seconds left in overtime, South guard Jason Martinez took the inbound pass and knocked down a three from the deep left wing to lift the Hawks past Los Fresnos for a much-needed and very thrilling 59-58 win.
“I told the kids to play hard on that last possession,” South head coach Brian Molina said. “Los Fresnos is a great team and it was going to come down to a possession here and a possession there.
“We drew up a shot and God-willing, it went in.”
Martinez finished the night with nine points after knocking down his second-three-point shot at the buzzer.
At 5-3, Harlingen South (17-6, 5-3) stays in the thick of the 32-6A playoff race and is tied for third with Harlingen High.
The Cards beat San Benito 61-53 Tuesday to get to 5-3.
For Los Fresnos (21-7, 7-1), it was there first district loss of the season.
The Falcons trailed by as much as 13 in the second half until head coach Marco Hinojosa pulled his starting five in the early third quarter to stress “senior leadership” but reinserted them shortly afterward.
The reinvigorated Falcons climbed back into the game and even took the lead late in the fourth quarter and overtime, but it was just not their night.
“I just called (the starters) out; I didn’t think they were leading,” Hinojosa said. “They stepped up, but in the end we fell short. South is a great team and they grabbed a much-needed win.
“It was a tough shot in the end, but that’s why you play to the buzzer.”
After Hinojosa reinserted his starters, the Falcons launched a 12-0 run to make the score 38-37, but the Hawks finished the third with buckets from Martinez and power forward Luke Bradford.
The Hawks gave up the lead once in the fourth, but led 51-48 with less than two minutes to go.
Los Fresnos’ Andrew Carrizales hit a three with 1:50 left to go in regulation, ultimately forcing overtime.
The Falcons jumped out to an early 55-51 lead, but South’s Aaron Briones knocked down a three from the right wing to keep pace.
Late in the extra period, Los Fresnos’ Hugo De La Cruz put his team up 58-56 with 28 seconds left.
With four seconds to go, South’s Martinez needed to jump to handle the inbound pass, but was able to dribble into a decent look for the win.
South’s Bradford finished the night with 25 points (17 in the first half) to lead the Hawks.
De La Cruz led the Falcons with 19, while Albert Alarcon followed with 15.