By EDWARD SEVERN, Staff Writer
ROMA — The Laredo Nixon Mustangs defeated the Harlingen High Cardinals 70-48 in an area-round meeting Friday night.
Nixon was on fire from beyond the arc, draining 13 shots from deep to advance to the next round. With the deadly shooting came open lanes, and the Mustangs finished strong at the rim.
Nixon had a big second quarter, in which it outscored the Cardinals 28-12 to take a 37-20 lead into the break.
“It is hard to prepare against a team like that,” Harlingen High coach Clayton Cretors said. “Especially when you only have two days.”
Harlingen High was always in striking range and only down 11 points entering the fourth quarter after junior Ryan Sanchez beat the buzzer from downtown.
“Extremely proud of our guys,” Cretors said. “It has been a difficult season of ups and downs. Even tonight, we fought back. We did not have enough tonight, but I am extremely proud of this resilient bunch.”
The Mustangs were just too lethal from range. Nixon’s Albert Leza nailed five 3-pointers on the night, including three during the fourth quarter to put the game away. Leza finished with 17 points.
Sanchez led the Cardinals with 15 points, and senior Johnathan Salinas was close behind with 13 points.
“We had our ups and downs,” Salinas said. “It did not go the way we wanted it to go, but we fought hard every single night. I love my guys.”