By MARK MOLINA | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
The Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers entered their game with the District 32-5A champion Pace Vikings on a four-game winning streak and a win away from clinching a playoff spot, but after a rocky second half, that will have to wait.
Trailing by just three at half, the Chargers were outscored by a dozen and were held to a single field goal in the third quarter as the Vikings cruised to a 66-50 win as well as a 13-0 District 32-5A record Friday night at Brownsville Veterans Memorial High School.
Pace got a cushion after opening the second half on a 10-2 run and made life tough on the Charger offense, which had gotten in the paint at-will in the first half.
Vikings head coach Jose Luis Ramirez said the run was his team simply waking up and getting in the moment.
“Sometimes kids have the ability to turn it on and turn it off,” he said. “in these kind of games, you have to be on from the start. My message was that it was no time for them to rest or relax. Every game is a championship game and needs to be treated that way. They focused and did a better job defensively.”
The Vikings burst out of the locker room with their 10-2 move, sparked by a three-point shot by Randy Aguilar and bookended with another trey by Hiram Flores to give the Vikings an 11-point lead.
Meanwhile, the Chargers (7-6 32-5A) looked stagnant on offense and were held without a third-quarter shot from the field until the 55-second mark.
“(Pace) outscored us 20-8 in the third quarter,” Chargers head coach Larry Gibson said. “We came out and forgot what we were doing in the first half to stay in the game with them. We started playing like individuals instead of team ball and it bit us. Our first three shots were three pointers when we had been taking it inside all day.
“Any time you play a crosstown rival, you take it personal and I think that’s what we did tonight is take it too personal.”
While Pace awaits a bi-district playoff paring, Brownsville Veterans will have to win at Mercedes Tuesday night to clinch a playoff berth.
The Chargers got going early in the first as five quick points by Matthew Maddox put them in front 11-6 with 3:27 t play in the first.
A bucket and a trey from Julio Ortega tied the game within a minute, sparking what would be a 17-6 run to end the first.
The Chargers got steady scoring in the second and five different players made field goals and trimmed the lead to three heading into the break.
Brownsville Veterans tried attacking the paint in the third, but only managed three trips to the line in the process, while Pace turned turnovers into transition buckets.
“We started the game a bit slow, but we picked it up on defense, getting more transition points,” Ortega said. “On defense we came up with steals, blocks, closeouts and our bigs got boards. That’s what we do to get more cushion.”
The Chargers finally hit from the field on a Paul Barrera layup with 55 seconds to go in the third to make it 48-38, but Pace led by 15 after three and pushed its lead to as many as 18 in the fourth.
Ortega led Pace with 14 points, while Aguilar recorded a double-double with 12 points, 11 boards and added three blocks and a pair of steals.
Damian Maldonado led the Chargers with 12. Maddox and Barrera had nine each for Brownsville Veterans.