KEVIN NARRO | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN—Although the district season is still young, Harlingen South made a statement with their 64-53 win over Weslaco High Friday afternoon.
The Hawks were led by senior point guard Aaron Briones who scored a game-high 24 points in the win.
“This is a big win for us,” Briones said. “We have been working hard in practice and we knew it would be tough against Weslaco, we came out the right way today.
“This game meant a lot to us and to still be unbeaten in the district is big.”
With the win, Harlingen South improves to 3-0 in district play and puts them in a great position in the first portion of the district season.
“They’re (Weslaco) the defending district champs and they’re going to play well,” said Hawks coach Brian Molina. “We were able to get some stops and take care of the ball late and in this district it’s always going to be tough.”
South held a slim 14-9 lead after the opening quarter, but in the second period Briones caught fire and directed an 11-0 run that put the Hawks ahead 27-14. Briones scored nine of the 11 points in that spurt via a pair of threes and free throws.
Briones’ second run came in the third quarter, when South led 31-23 at the half and came out strong with an 11-6 run. In the third period, South outscored Weslaco 17-10 and held a comfortable lead for the rest of the half. Chanz Love finished with 14 points while teammate Sean Turrubiates netted 13 points in the win.
“We tried to spread them out, they do a great job defensively. They’re very long, so we tried to cancel that out with speed and by taking good shots. Today, we were more patient on offense and I think that helped us,” Molina said.
Weslaco struggled from the floor and couldn’t find their shot in the loss. The Panthers are now 1-2 in district play and will look to rebound against San Benito on Tuesday.
The Hawks will prepare for Brownsville Rivera next week while 32-6A is once again shaping up to be one of the toughest districts in the Valley.
“Rivera is another tough team in our district,” Molina said. “They have a lot of experience and play very well it’s going to be another test for us.”