By EDWARD SEVERN, Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — The Harlingen South Hawks picked up a big District 32-6A win against the crosstown rival Harlingen High Cardinals, 62-44 on Friday night at home.
The Hawks came out swinging and flexing during the first quarter. Senior Ethan Salinas hit a 3-pointer and fed Luis Rios with a sweet no-look pass to give the Hawks a 7-0 lead.
Hawks sophomore Steven Ortegon was money all night. He dropped 22 points, including six straight during the first quarter to put South up 13-4.
Hawks senior Ddeen Badiru was busy on both ends. He dropped a couple of dimes to Rios before he got on the scoreboard after finishing at the rim while absorbing contact. Rios and Ortegon were lighting it up from mid-range in the quarter.
“Our team executed today. Today is our day,” Rios said. “We haven’t been doing so well, but today is the start of something.”
South’s offense has been lacking lately, but it exploded during the first half. They scored more points, 37, in the half than they did in their loss Tuesday against Hanna (34).
“I tell the kids, ‘Trust the process,’” Hawks coach Brian Molina said. “At the Christmas break we were putting up over 60 points a game. I told the kids, ‘Hey, believe in the defensive end, and you will start rewarding yourself on the offensive end.’
“I tell them, ‘Shoot with a lot of confidence. We can’t play them on our heels, we need to start attacking the paint.’ I think we did that early in the game, and it gave us a cushion,” he added.
No lead is safe against the Cardinals, and they battled back during the third quarter. Seniors Ian Solis and Johnathan Salinas got to the rim, and junior Ryan Sanchez also made a couple of buckets.
The Cardinals cut the lead to 10 entering the fourth quarter.
It was the Hawks’ night, and they were not going to let a lead slip out of their hands. They broke the Cardinals’ press and made easy buckets. Jeremiah Rivera, Ortegon and Rios all lit it up during the quarter to hold off the Cardinals.
“We got to play better defense than what we did tonight,” Cardinals coach Clayton Cretors said. “We gave up too many easy layups and easy looks. Credit to South, they came out here and played a great game. They had it tonight and we didn’t.”