By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
LOS FRESNOS — The Los Fresnos Falcons held off a relentless Harlingen High squad to pick up a 72-65 win in a key District 32-6A home game Tuesday.
Time after time when the Falcons started to pull away during the second half, the Cardinals had an answer. Harlingen High chipped away at large leads and stayed within three points in the final five minutes behind strong post play from Ian Solis and the ball-handling skills of Ryan Sanchez.
Los Fresnos held a slim 66-65 lead inside of one minute remaining and opened things up to seal the victory with clutch free-throw shooting as the Cardinals were forced to foul. Gerry Martinez, Darius Garcia and Edsson Picazo came up big during the final minute to improve to 3-0 in district play.
“It feels good. Every time you play (Harlingen High) it’s going to be one of those rivalry games. They bring the best out of us and we bring the best out of them, so this is what you expect,” said Falcons assistant Alex Lucio, who is leading the team in place of quarantined coach Marco Hinojosa. “We just had to be ready for it, and the thing is, we have Gerry Martinez. He’s a hell of a player, so we just try to put the ball in his hands.”
Harlingen High started the game hot as Sanchez sank a 3-pointer on the first shot of the night. Eric Quilantan dominated down low to keep possession in favor of the Cardinals, and their speedy defense forced a plethora of missed shots by the Falcons to help the Red Birds hold a 15-12 advantage after the first quarter.
Defensive adjustments and the silky shot of Martinez got Los Fresnos rolling in the second. Martinez knocked down contested looks and hit two deep 3s en route to scoring 13 of the Falcons’ 25 points in the quarter. Roger Capetillo and Dayton Noriega played solid defense in the paint and rebounded well, and JJ Salazar added seven points to put Los Fresnos on top 37-28 at halftime.
“We try to hang our hats on defense and take a lot of pride in that,” Lucio said. “We really wanted to make sure their big guy wasn’t getting any rebounds, because he was killing us down low. Our main emphasis was to put two bodies on that guy and make sure to make stops.”
The Falcons widened their lead to 16 points midway through the third quarter with their crisp ball movement — which drew out Harlingen High’s defense, resulting in points in the paint — and improved rebounding. But a 12-0 run by the Cardinals, sparked by Quilantan’s defense and effort on the boards and Sanchez’s tenacious offensive attack, got Harlingen High right back in the game.
Los Fresnos put together a little scoring run of its own, aided by Noriega’s physicality down low, to extend its lead to 57-47 heading into the final eight minutes. Once again, the Cardinals found the will to trim the lead.
Quilantan hit from behind the arc to start the fourth and then Solis strung together an impressive series of plays, resulting in seven straight points to make it 59-57. Solis kept the ball high after rebounds for putback buckets and finished shots through contact, even while falling backward, to energize the Cardinals.
“Basketball’s a game of runs, and I told them just don’t put your head down, and keep staying to our plan and stay the course,” Cardinals coach Clayton Cretors said. “Ryan Sanchez had the ball in his hands a lot and had to make a lot of the plays. (Solis) definitely was huge for us today. Rebound after rebound, putbacks, and just guarding the paint. He did a heck of a job considering he just got back from football.”
Xavier Arellano scored his third of four 3-pointers to get Harlingen High within one point of Los Fresnos. The speed and aggressiveness of the game peaked during the final four minutes as the teams battled for the win, resulting in turnovers and miscues from both squads.
Arellano hit his final 3-pointer with 46 seconds on the clock to keep Harlingen High’s hopes alive with the score 66-65. But Picazo and Martinez were a combined 9-for-10 from the charity stripe in the fourth and hit clutch free-throws during the final minute to keep the Falcons on top.
Martinez led all scorers with 31 points, was 11-for-13 from the line and hit four times from behind the arc. Salazar dropped 13 points, and Garcia contributed 10 for Los Fresnos.
Sanchez was Harlingen High’s top scorer with 14 points on two 3s and a perfect 8-for-8 night at the free-throw line. Quilantan scored 13, Arellano added 12 on four 3s and Solis recorded 11 points for the Cardinals.
“That’s a tremendous squad they got over there in Los Fresnos,” Cretors said. “I’m extremely proud of the effort from our guys. They never for a second doubted themselves. Eventually some shots started to fall for us and it changed the momentum, but we just fell short at the end. Now, we’re going to regroup and look forward to the next game.”
The girls game between Los Fresnos and Harlingen High that was scheduled to be played following the boys contest was postponed late Tuesday due to COVID-19.