By EDWARD SEVERN, Staff Writer
LOS FRESNOS — The Harlingen South Hawks held off a ferocious Los Fresnos Falcons comeback for a 54-50 win in a District 32-6A game Friday night.
“Heck of a game. Anytime you play a classy, well-coached team like Los Fresnos, we know we are going to battle,” Hawks coach Brian Molina said. “We knew no lead was safe. They fought back, and that is a testament to them. This is a very tough district, and it is a big win for us.”
Down 50-48, the Falcons (12-9, 1-4) stole the inbounds pass and finished at the rim to tie the game. On the ensuing possession, the Hawks (15-10, 3-2) pushed the ball down the court. Junior Dylan Maldonado hit a turnaround jumper on the baseline to win the game for the Hawks.
“I had gotten a low pass,” Maldonado said. “I was going to go up but there was no lane, so I settled for a pullup jumper. We practice that every day. I had my moment, and I knocked it down.”
Every game in 32-6A is expected to be scrappy. This game was no exception as both teams played hard defense at the start, and it took around four minutes for either team to get on the board.
The Hawks went up 9-5 at the end of the first. Jeremiah Rivera hit a 3-pointer for the slight cushion.
South continued their decent start with an uptick of offense early in the second quarter. Ethan Salinas hit from deep, and Ddeen Badiru and Steven Ortegon got to the hoop as the Hawks opened an 18-7 lead early.
Los Fresnos stayed in the game with JJ Salazar and Darius Garcia, but trailed 23-14 at the half.
Badiru continued his success at getting to the basket. Badiru dealt with contact and finished some tricky layups. Fellow senior Luis Rios got involved, too, to give the Hawks a 31-16 lead early in the third.
The Falcons cut the lead down to 10 after Edsson Picazo scored in the paint, but the Hawks broke the Falcons’ press and Ortegon and Joel De Jesus hit 3-pointers. The Hawks took a 13-point advantage into the fourth quarter.
The Falcons are a tough team, and they fought back again. Six straight points by Picazo cut the Hawks’ lead to 43-37 and got the crowd back into the game, setting up the tense finish.
Los Fresnos will look to bounce back against a strong San Benito Greyhounds team that has started off district well.
“We continue to have slow starts, and because of the slow starts we have gift-wrapped three games already,” Falcons coach Marco Hinojosa said. “We have lost those three games by a combined score of single digits. That is on us, and credit those teams for doing what they have to do, but we got to get better.”