By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
With the game clock winding down and his team trailing by double digits, Brownsville Veterans Memorial coach Larry Gibson turned to his bench and said, “I want my seniors out of this game.”
As Kelly Davis, Elijah Hinojosa and Damian Maldonado walked off the court for the last time as Chargers and embraced their coaches and teammates, both crowds cheered loudly for them.
The Chargers, ranked No. 22 in the state by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches, lost 63-45 to the Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial Eagles on Thursday at Falfurrias. The loss cut short a season Gibson said was the best he’s had in his 23 years in Brownsville.
“I wanted (the seniors) to know how much I appreciate them, and they deserved that from the crowd. It wasn’t that I was giving up, but the game was already decided and I wanted to recognize them and give them one last hug,” Gibson said. “I’m disappointed, I don’t think that we played up to our capabilities, but I feel we played hard and we played a very good team. These kids have nothing to hang their head about.”
The Eagles rode a strong defense to open a quick 12-0 lead they never relinquished. Brownsville Veterans saw many shots fall off the rim on good looks and struggled to set up an offense against the length of Corpus Christi Veterans.
The Chargers didn’t pass well, and the Eagles exploited that by applying tight ball pressure and using quick hands to record steals and turn them into points on the other end.
Eagles senior Breon Thompson had a big night as he dominated the paint on both sides of the court, tallying 31 points and grabbing a plethora of rebounds. Corpus Christi Veterans moved the ball well with crisp, fast passes to spread out the Chargers’ defense and then feed the ball inside to Thompson throughout the contest.
“Any win at this time of the season feels great. We get to practice and play another day,” Corpus Christi Veterans coach Billy White Jr. said. “I’m proud of the way the guys came out and battled tonight. We knew Brownsville Vets was a really good team, we played them earlier in the year and they beat us, so to come in and get this win is great for us.”
Maldonado, a four-year starter for Brownsville Veterans, finished the game with eight points to tie junior Lucas Edge for the team high. Davis dropped seven, and Hinojosa added four.
Maldonado also recorded three blocks and proved to be the biggest challenge inside for the Eagles. Gibson said seeing his leader go hurts more than anything.
“It was surreal realizing this was probably my last high school basketball game, and I was trying to hold back my emotions and accept that I won’t get to put on the Veterans Chargers jersey anymore,” Maldonado said. “I’m really close to (Gibson), I’ve learned so much from him, and he’s a part of who I am today and it’s going to be hard not playing for him anymore.”