LOS FRESNOS — The Harlingen High Cardinals needed this one. Facing the prospect of an 0-3 start to District 32-6A, the Cardinals pulled out an impressive 61-56 win on the road against the Los Fresnos Falcons.
“Ten-game district and being 0-2 is tough,” Harlingen High head coach Clayton Cretors said. “It has been a tough week keeping the spirits up, but my guys are very resilient.”
The Cardinals held the lead for the vast majority of the contest but could not pull away from the Falcons. Harlingen High needed clutch free throws and rebounds to come out on top.
“They believed in themselves and executed our game plan,” Cretors said.
Cretors said the strategy that the Cardinals implemented was to contain Los Fresnos’ top scorer, Jj Salazar.
It is hard to stop Salazar, and the junior still scored 17 points. Falcons senior Luis Ramirez dropped 14 points, and Gio Galvan pitched in with 10 points.
“We knew we were not going to be able to stop him,” Cretors said. “But we wanted to try and limit his touches as much as we could. I felt like we did a good job of that, especially in the first half.”
Los Fresnos did the same thing with Harlingen High senior guard Ryan Sanchez. The Falcons gave the Cardinals’ top scorer little space throughout the game.
Sanchez created some space toward the end of the game, hitting clutch free throws along with sophomore Aaron Benavides to seal the game for the Cardinals.
“They were on me the whole time,” Sanchez said. “My teammates did a good job of getting me open, and I made our free throws.”
Sanchez scored 13 points, fellow senior big man Jayden Rendon chipped in with 10 points and sophomore Ashton Barajas benefited the most from the defensive looks Sanchez was receiving, finishing with a game-high 23 points.
“It was really big for him to step up this game,” Sanchez said of Barajas’ night.
Harlingen High came out with a sense of urgency in the first half. The Cardinals held and maintained a lead after going up 7-6 early in the first quarter. Harlingen High went into the half up 34-24.
The Cardinals did not relinquish the lead they built in the first quarter.
Harlingen High (9-19, 1-2) looks to keep the momentum going against Weslaco High at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Weslaco. Los Fresnos (20-8, 1-2) takes on Brownsville Rivera at 7:30 p.m. at home.