By MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
Following a game at Lopez, Brownsville Veterans Memorial coach Larry Gibson said that in order to be the champion, you have to beat the champion.
One week later, the Chargers took a big step in doing just that.
Damian Maldonado and Justin Anaya combined for 36 points and helped the Chargers hand the Pace Vikings a 67-54 District 32-5A loss Tuesday night at Brownsville Veterans.
“I just saw a lot of heart from my team,” Gibson said. “I think Pace is one of the better teams in the (Rio Grande Valley. When you put these two schools together two miles apart, it’s just a war. We won this war, and we have another one coming up. This was just two teams that wanted this game real bad. Both teams fought hard, and I think we just fought a little harder, that’s all.”
The Chargers move to 6-0 in district play, and the Vikings fall to 5-1 after suffering its first district loss since 2017.
The Vikings struggled offensively during the second half, making just six shots from the field, including one in the fourth.
It was the Chargers’ size that overpowered in the paint, leaving the Vikings unable to get stops down the stretch or mount any kind of offense.
“We just didn’t shoot the ball well, and Veterans just used their size against us,” Pace coach Jose Luis Ramirez said. “They got a lot of offensive boards and putbacks. They maximized their size, and that made a big difference for us. We just couldn’t make any shots.”
Early on, the Chargers used the long ball to stay in the game and weather a 12-3 Vikings run to start the game.
Anaya hit a 3-pointer to make it 12-6 and then another — after a pair of Pace free throws — moments later to make it 14-9.
Brownsville Veterans began going to the paint in the second quarter and took the lead for good, 25-23off of four Maldonado points on back-to-back possessions, coming via a bucket in the paint and a pair of free throws.
The Chargers finished the first half leading 38-32 and never looked back as they continued to feed Maldonado, who scored 13 of his game-high 19 points during the second half.
“We came out and fell in love with the 3, and tried to match (Pace),” Gibson said. “We came in the second half and made a conscious effort to get the ball inside to Damian. Once he got inside they started double-teaming, we got a couple of tip-ins and some easy shots. To me, that was the key for us offensively.”
The Chargers led by as many as 13 points on two different occasions during the third quarter.
Pace cut it to 55-48 by the end of the third but did not muster another field goal until the 1:46 mark of the fourth on a bucket from Emilio Padron to make it 53-62.
“It was their size,” Ramirez said of the Chargers. “We were trying to put bodies on them, but anything up in the air was theirs most of the time. They were able to maximize their size. They were able to hit second and third opportunities. On our side, we missed a shot, we didn’t get a chance. We almost couldn’t miss at all, otherwise, they were going to run away with it.”
Anaya finished with 17 points. Baltazar Hinojosa led the Vikings with 12, and Emilio Padron added 10.