MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — After having dropped their last two District 32-6A contests, the Harlingen Cardinals were in need of a rebound.
Thanks to balanced scoring and a hot start, the Cards got just that as they dismissed the Brownsville Lopez Lobos 65-53 Tuesday night in Harlingen.
“It feels good to get the win after two losses, but we have to keep getting after it,” said Harlingen’s Ernie Ramirez, who was one of four players to drop double digits Tuesday. “We came out focused on our defense and ran our offense. We went through our press in practice and three days of conditioning really helped.”
Harlingen’s Ramirez finished the day with 12 points.
The Cards will take on crosstown rival Harlingen South on Friday as they try to keep up the momentum.
“Every district contest is big, but unfortunately we dropped the last two,” said Harlingen head coach Greg Yates, “We have to build on that energy, take it one game at a time and keep going; there’s a lot of district games left.”
Harlingen (2-2 in district) was in command from the start as the Red Birds jumped out to a 19-5 lead after one quarter paced by 10 points from its bigs Matthew Sesler and Juan Cerrillo.
Lopez (1-3 in district) had problems with Harlingen’s smothering defense throughout and never got into any kind of defensive rhythm.
The Cards carried that momentum for more than three quarters and pushed their lead to 24 late in the fourth quarter.
“We just came out with the energy and wanted to press them because we knew they had two quality guards that we wanted to put pressure on,” said Harlingen head coach Greg Yates. “We had our opportunities, got off to a good start, got a lot of steals and got some easy points.”
With the game out of reach, Lopez’s Julio Jimenez led the Lobos on an 18-6 run to end the game.
He led all scorers with 18 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter.
CARDINAL BIGS: Harlingen had another productive night from its bigs Sesler and Cerrillo.
Sesler finished with 12 points, while Cerrillo followed with 11 and was a force on the defensive side of the ball.
Both are key components in the Cardinals’ attack and have the trust of Coach Yates.
“With Juan and Matt Sesler, those guys are two of the best post players around,” Yates said. “One is a senior and the other is a sophomore. You can’t coach size and that’s what Matt has.
“He’s still hustling and working on it, but it’s nice to have our veteran Juan showing him how to work real hard.”