KEVIN NARRO | Staff Writer
BROWNSVILLE— While the season is young, Brownsville Veterans hit the court running Tuesday night. Four Chargers scored in double figures, led by senior Damian Maldonado, who netted a game-high 17 points in a 72-46 win over San Benito.
Brownsville Veterans improves to 2-0 on the year and will travel to West Oso this weekend. San Benito meanwhile will head west for the La Joya Tournament. The Greyhounds are 0-2.
The Chargers came firing out of the gate with a 16-4 run that gave them a 16-7 lead early. Maldonado fueled the early run with eight first quarter points. The Chargers pushed their lead 18-7 after the first period and did not look back.
“That is how we want to start games; that is how we want to play,” said Chargers coach Larry Gibson. “We are trying to play at least 10 people and be 10 deep. We want to push the ball and ware people down.”
Matt Maddox, Kelly Davis and Lucky Edge scored 10 points each in the win.
Edge hit a three pointer at the end of the first half and hit another three ball in the final seconds of the third quarter. The Chargers led by as many as 20 in the second half.
“We are great right now, we are 2-0,” Gibson said. “As long as you haven’t lost any you are doing well, I think our greatest thing right now is our camaraderie we are playing together and he kids are passing the ball. We have a plus-19 turnover ratio so we are taking care of the ball.”
The Chargers still have some work to do when it comes to getting in basketball shape. Maldonado, Edge, Alex Villarreal and Thomas Pena are all making the switch from football to basketball.
“I got those four back and we are getting them in basketball shape,” Gibson said. “They came in here in good shape but there is a different kind of shape with football and basketball. We are trying to push the ball quite a bit.”
For the ’Hounds Devin Rubio and Aaron Lucio scored nine points each to lead the San Benito offense respectively.
The Greyhounds are under first-year head coach Jared Bligh and are still getting accustomed to the new system.
“There is a lot of learning to do and obviously with a new coach, there is a learning curve with a new style of play,” Bligh said. “They are getting used to it and we are trying to get the kids to buy in and continue to learn and improve throughout the year.”