By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
LOS FRESNOS – Los Fresnos coach Marco Hinojosa has been wanting more from his Falcons in this young season.
They answered the call in a non-district matchup with McAllen Rowe on Friday, leaning on an aggressive defense to capture a quality 69-48 victory.
“Rowe’s a first-class organization,” Hinojosa said. “We schedule them every year because they’re pretty damn good. I’m proud of my kids today because they stepped up to the challenge.
“We’ve been challenging the kids all week, calling them out all week. They need to get better. It’s a work in progress, and we tell the kids trust the process. This is just a little step in the right direction, and we still have work to do.”
Rowe’s Emiliano Ramirez controlled the offensive and defensive boards to start the contest, helping the Warriors take a small lead.
But Los Fresnos turned up the intensity on defense and completely dominated the rest of the first quarter behind an inspired performance from JJ Salazar. The sophomore notched blocks, steals and deflected passes, then he cashed the stops in on the other end of the court.
Salazar scored nine of his game-high 25 points during the frame and dished out assists to get his teammates going, leading to an 18-0 run that put Los Fresnos firmly in control. Salazar continued to slice up Rowe’s defense throughout the game.
“JJ is a special player. I’m glad he’s on our team,” Hinojosa said. “Nobody has it harder on this team than him because I’m very hard on him. He takes it with a positive. He’s very unselfish, a team-first type of guy.”
The Warriors fought back in spurts throughout the second and third quarters, but the Falcons didn’t let the lead dip below eight points. Roger Capetillo and Keane Ogao were productive on the boards, allowing Los Fresnos to clean up misses on both ends to maintain possession. The Falcons consistently swarmed to the ball, causing turnovers and poor passes from Rowe.
“We turned the ball over too many times against a team that was fired up to beat us. I don’t think we ever got into a rhythm,” Rowe coach Jose Luis Yebra said. “We talked about getting the ball inside (at halftime), and we did a couple of times and that opened up our outside game. But we didn’t do it enough. We still got a lot of work to do.”
Rowe came out of halftime and battled well during the third quarter. The Warriors played solid defense to slow the Falcons in a halfcourt set, swiping some steals and forcing Los Fresnos to cough up the ball a few times. Justin De Luna, Elijah Alcantar, Daniel Fraire and Julian Avila made good defensive plays and knocked down some key shots to find some momentum.
Luis Guerra turned the tides back in Los Fresnos’ favor with a steal and a pair of free throws. The Falcons opened things up as Salazar and Capetillo (10 points) dominated the fourth quarter. Los Fresnos hauled in rebounds with high frequency and took care of the ball in a strong effort from start to finish.
“We’ve been up several times at halftime in scrimmages, games, and we don’t know how to finish. They showed a good sign turning the corner by finishing today strong and not letting their foot off the gas,” Hinojosa said.