By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
Los Fresnos freshman guard Gerry Martinez was playing in his first high school playoff game Monday night in front of a raucous crowd at Edinburg North, but he wasn’t fazed.
Martinez led the Falcons with 16 points to a 68-49 bi-district victory over the Cougars. He was one of five Falcons to notch double-digit points in a consistent offensive effort.
“Even though this is his first, he’s big on the big stage,” Los Fresnos coach Marco Hinojosa said. “He loves this, he’s up for the challenge and he lives for games like this.”
Edinburg North struggled to establish an inside game against the stifling Los Fresnos defense. The Cougars shot well from behind the arc, with four shooters combining to hit eight 3-pointers, including a buzzer-beating deep ball to cut the Falcons’ lead to 10 before halftime.
North came out shooting well with some momentum to open the second half, but Los Fresnos answered every bucket and challenged the smaller Cougars guards on the perimeter to quickly contain the offense.
“One of the things we faltered at, was our shots weren’t falling like they normally should,” North coach Rudy Garcia said. “Our normal shooters weren’t making them for whatever reason. We were inconsistent, scoring in little spurts, and they were consistent all the time.”
Trailing by 12 heading to the final eight minutes, North turned up the defensive intensity and kept the Falcons out of the paint, where they had previously been finding success.
After another momentum flip by Los Fresnos with just more than five minutes remaining, a North timeout amped up the energy in the gym. The team’s cheerleading squads took the break to showcase their talent in a flipoff that enticed huge cheers from the crowd and applause from the players.
North senior Sergio Quintanilla harnessed that energy to hit back-to-back 3s, but the Los Fresnos lead was too large to overcome.
“We knew we were in for a battle. They play hellacious defense and push the ball,” Garcia said. “We told the kids to play hard no matter what the score was, and I’m very proud of them for doing that.”
The Falcons were surgical from the free-throw line, hitting 26 of 34 attempts to seal the win. Martinez dropped a team-high seven points in the fourth quarter to keep the Cougars at bay.
“Credit Edinburg North, they played with intensity and hit some big shots,” Hinojosa said. “But credit my kids, too, they’re a great team and I’m proud of them. We talked about having guys step up from the bench, and they’ve come in and done a good job.”
Quintanilla was the leading scorer for North with 12, followed by junior Aaron Gonzalez’s 11 points.
Ricky Altamirano (14), Elian Gonzalez (13), Luis Gonzalez (11) and Antonio Aldrighetti (10) were big contributors for Los Fresnos.