By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Noah Armstrong of Hanna wasn’t about to let a little blood stop him and its playoff chances against Rivera.
Armstrong received a cut above his lip early on, but he shook it off and scored a game-high 22 points to help the Golden Eagles stay in the playoff hunt with a 56-50 win over the Raiders in a District 32-6A basketball game Friday at Hanna.
“It fired me up a little bit,” Armstrong said of the bloody lip. “We’re trying to make it to the playoffs. I was hitting shots, but I wouldn’t be able to without my team feeding me the ball, so I’m thankful for my team.”
Armstrong also grabbed six rebounds and had a block, and along with Adam Lopez who finished with 13 points, six rebounds and a pair of blocks, controlled the paint and used their size advantage in the crucial district win for the Eagles.
“Noah, Adam and even Vicente (Garcia) and Austin (Jiminez) off the bench really give us a lot,” Hanna coach Fermin Lucio said. “That was our game plan, feed the bigs and let everything go from there. That’s our game; we play old school basketball, inside out.
“Noah had a hell of a game (Friday).”
Hanna moves to 7-6 in District 32-6A and keeps it in the playoff hunt with one game to go. Rivera falls to 0-13 in district play.
Hanna trailed by three points at the break, but Armstrong — who had 12 points in the first half — poured in 10 more in the second half. The Eagles started the third quarter on a 6-0 run to retake the lead.
Rivera didn’t waver as Oscar Lozoya kept the Raiders in the game and hit a 3 to tie the game at 30. But Hanna, aided by back-to-back buckets by Armstrong, went on an 8-0 surge in a momentum-shifting third quarter where Hanna outscored Rivera 18-10 and turned a three-point deficit into a five-point lead.
“I think the kids woke up, whenever you play a Brownsville team it’s always going to be tough matchup,” Lucio said. “We finally woke up and started playing our game. Feeding the bigs down low and started running a little bit and that helped get our momentum.”
Midway through the final quarter, Armstrong got a pair of tough buckets on consecutive possessions to push the Hanna lead to nine. Lozoya had a three-point play and then a pair of free throws to get Rivera within four points, but the Eagles’ Rick Rocha hit a jumper and he combined with Jaime Rucoba and Jose Torre to hit some crucial free throws to hold off the Raiders down the stretch.
“We had a couple of turnovers that kind of hurt us,” Rivera coach Saul Villarreal said. “We didn’t take care of that lead because of turnovers and we turned the ball over in crucial situations.”
Lozoya finished with 20 points, including a pair of 3s, seven rebounds and two steals to lead the way for Rivera. Guerrero added 10 points, including eight in the first half and had a pair of rebounds for the Raiders.
Rucoba and Rocha combined for 15 points, all in the second half, 10 rebounds and four steals for Hanna.
Hanna started the game with a pair of runs, including a 9-0 surge fueled by both Armstrong and Lopez to take a 13-5 advantage in the opening quarter.
Rivera got going offensively in the second quarter and took a 24-23 lead with back-to-back buckets by Rudy Guerrero. Lozoya got a steal and added a basket to give the Raiders a 26-23 edge at the break.
But Rivera couldn’t matchup with the Hanna big men as they took over after halftime to helped seal the district win.
“I think that’s the reason they went big,” Villarreal said. “They knew we’re not that big, but we tried to defend them the best that we could. (Armstrong) hits some good shots. We tried to defend him the best we could and use rotations and put different people on them (inside).”
Hanna has one more game to try and earn the final playoff spot in District 32-6A.
“We’ve had our backs against the wall the last two weeks and I think it has brought out the best in us,” Lucio said. “We have to come back to work (today). We have a big game against Weslaco (High) on Tuesday. To go into the last night with something to play for is a big moment for us and hopefully we can come out on the bottom side of that.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.