HARLINGEN — For nearly three quarters, the Harlingen Cardinals and the Brownsville Hanna Golden Eagles contest was a tight match.
But it was the aggressive Cardinals who outlasted the Eagles in the end, as a fourth-quarter run paved the way to a 69-56 win Friday night in Harlingen.
The win put Harlingen, Hanna and Harlingen South all at 4-3 and vying for third place in a tight District 32-6A race.
“I told the guys that Hanna was ahead of us coming in and we need to beat who’s ahead of us (in the standings),” said Harlingen head coach Greg Yates. “They came out and did a great job. It was a competitive first half and we did a good job in the second half.
“We got on a bit of a run, started attacking the basket a little bit more and that was the difference in the game.”
Harlingen opened the fourth on an 11-3 run that put the game out of reach for Hanna.
The Eagles, however, played most of the game without star guard Gabe Martinez, who left the game with a right ankle injury early in the second quarter. They were also down a player who was out with a prior UIL commitment.
With a minimized rotation, the Cards’ press wore down the Eagles and it showed at the line where they missed 6 of 9 fourth-quarter free-throws.
“I saw fatigue, down two guys at that point in the fourth, and our boys hustling to get back in it,” said Hanna head coach Todd Barckholtz. “We just didn’t make those free throws tonight. Our rotation wasn’t there to support us like it needed to be.”
Martinez did not return to action and the severity of his injury was unknown.
On the night, the Golden Eagles were 17 of 31 from the charity stripe.
After Martinez left the game, buckets from Hanna’s Eduardo Trevino and Joe Torres gave the Golden Eagles their third lead of the game. But the Cards quickly answered with a 10-0 run to make it 31-24.
Hanna bounced back and went into the break down 32-31.
Leading 45-44 in the third, Harlingen point guard Isaac Garza scored the final seven Cardinal points of the period, including a buzzer-beating shot just inside the arc to make it a six-point game after three.
Garcia and Ernie Ramirez each scored 18 for the Red Birds.
One of Yates’ bright spots was reserve power forward Reece Ortega, who had 14 points off the bench.
“I was taking whatever was open to me when my teammates got me the ball,” Ortega said. “It was a great win that will hopefully get our momentum going for when we go up against teams like Los Fresnos and Brownsville Veterans down the line.”
Hanna’s Noah Armstrong scored 12 and Andy Lopez followed with 11.