By MARK MOLINA | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
Both the Hanna Golden Eagles and the St. Joseph Bloodhounds struggled from the field in a close first half.
An 11-5 run to end the third quarter gave the Eagles the spark and cushion they needed to open the game up as they cruised to a 48-33 win over the Bloodhounds on Tuesday night at St. Joseph Academy.
Hanna began knocking down shots from the perimeter and built its first double digit lead of the game with 1:35 left in the third quarter and would lead by as many as 18 in the fourth.
“We just started to hit shots,” Hanna head basketball coach Fermin Lucio said. “We had some open shots in the first half; they just weren’t falling. The boys dug deep and started hitting some of those shots. We moved the ball better; we weren’t letting the ball stick and got the open looks that we needed.”
Despite tying the game twice and getting to within a basket a number of times, St. Joseph never led and recorded just three field goals in the fourth.
The Bloodhounds (0-6) struggled not only from the perimeter, but had their difficulties converting on high-percentage shots in the paint.
“Our legs weren’t there on our shooting, some shots were short, we didn’t finish some lay ups and some free throws,” St. Joseph head basketball coach Sam Lucio said. “It’s just stuff we need to get better on and I think we’re in the process of doing. I think we’ve improved a lot from a week ago.
“Our thing this week has been to get better every single day and I think we’ve done that.”
Victor Campos led the way for Hanna (2-4) with 15 points, six of which came in the fourth quarter in the paint. Jaime Rucoba followed with 12 points, including a pair of three-point shots.”
St. Joseph’s Cesar Garcia led all scorers on the night with 16 points and a pair of blocks Camilo Trevino had 10 for the Bloodhounds.
Hanna opened the first quarter with a pair of quick treys and built an 8-2 lead, but St. Joseph made a small run and trail by just two after the first quarter.
The Eagles struggled to gain any sort of momentum and never led by more than six in the first half as the bloodhounds patrolled the paint on defense.
“It was our game plan, to compact the paint because (Hanna has) really good post players,” Sam Lucio. “We wanted to protect the pain for ourselves and hope they miss. But today, they just hit. (Hanna) started pretty good, then we settled down and then they hit them again at the end.”
The Bloodhounds tied the game twice in the second quarter, but never were able to get over the hump thanks to the Hanna’s own defensive showcase.
“The boys showed hustle,” Fermin Lucio said. “Whatever defense we called, the boys showed some hustle and some heart. I think if we do that the rest of the season, it’s going to be some good defensive showings for our team.”
Hanna began its run when Jose Torre, Rucoba and Noah Armstrong hit threes on consecutive possessions to push the lead to 31-21 with 1:35 to play in the third quarter.
Trevino stopped the bleeding for the Bloodhounds with a three of his own to make it 31-24 after three.
Hanna opened the fourth on an 8-2 spurt to go up 13 with 4:55 left.
The Bloodhounds knocked down just two buckets from that point on.