By STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer
LOS FRESNOS – Los Fresnos forward Elian Gonzalez had himself quite a day at the Tournament of Champions on Friday at the Los Fresnos United dome.
The senior celebrated his birthday and scored 16 points for the Falcons en route to a 63-46 win over Round Rock High in their quarterfinal matchup.
Among the many highlights for Los Fresnos on Friday were give-and-go plays between Luis Gonzalez and Elian Gonzalez which helped Los Fresnos outrun Round Rock in transition.
Before that, though, Los Fresnos coach Marco Hinojosa wasn’t liking what he saw from his team in the early stages of the first quarter, so he called for a timeout.
“We were I guess scared, I don’t know what it was,” Los Fresnos coach Marco Hinojosa said. “After that, the ball started moving, we started attacking (their) hips, moving the basketball, and it was a thing of beauty. When the ball moves and it doesn’t stick, that’s a beautiful thing, and that’s when this team’s at its best.”
The Falcons trailed late in the first quarter, but Gerry Martinez (the team’s leading scorer with 17 points) knocked down a corner three for Los Fresnos with 2:05 to go and cut the Dragons’ lead to 11-10, and on the next possession, he hit a transition three from the right elbow with 1:32 to go to give Los Fresnos its first lead of the game at 13-11.
A long outlet pass from Martinez to Elian Gonzalez, a cornerback on the Falcon football team, gave Los Fresnos a 15-13 as Gonzalez laid the ball in off the glass the first quarter buzzer sounded.
Elian Gonzalez knocked down two three-pointers for six of his eight second quarter points. The other two came after he poked the ball away from Round Rock’s Daveyon Finch with 4:15 to go in the period. After absorbing contact from Finch and making a contested layup, he flexed his muscles in celebration of the bucket that put Los Fresnos up 29-24.
“I like bringing energy to the team and pumping everyone up,” Gonzalez said. “Not only do I feel it, but the whole team can feel it and they start heating up.”
Gerry Martinez drained a deep three-pointer to give the Falcons a 32-24 lead with 3:20 to go, and Altamirano forced a turnover and followed with a breakaway layup to go up 34-24.
Los Fresnos took a 37-30 advantage into the halftime break, and the Falcons blew the game open with an 17-4 third quarter.
Seth Ford and Jack Peterson each had eight points for the Dragons.
“It was a tough, hard win,” Hinojosa said. “But we’ll take it.”
Houston Strake Jesuit 63, Harlingen High 52
Harlingen High made each quarter of its game against Houston Strake Jesuit a close fight, but the Cardinals ultimately were outdone by the Fighting Crusaders in their quarterfinal contest.
After trailing 10-3 to start the game, Mike Vasquez made a layup that narrowed the margin to one, and he came up with a block that led to a bucket and capped a 10-0 Harlingen High run.
The Cardinals trailed by four at the half and seven at the end of the third quarter, but were unable to break through.
Eric Quilantan led Harlingen High with 13 points, and Luke Thorburn had 15 to lead Strake Jesuit.
Euless Trinity 68, McAllen Rowe 46
Tavares James had 12 points for Euless Trinity in their quarterfinal victory over McAllen Rowe. Dunk contest participants Stephon Flournoy and Kenyon Williams combined for five points.
Louie Yebra posted 15 points and Darrin Everage recorded 10 points for the Warriors.
San Antonio Reagan 63, Edinburg Vela 38
Will Karsten scored 20 points for San Antonio Reagan as the Rattlers defeated Edinburg Vela to advance to the semifinal round against Euless Trinity.
Bobby Espericueta had nine points to lead the Sabercats.
Dragons sweep skills competitions
Round Rock sophomore Reese Miller won the three-point shootout with a first-round score of 16 and second-round score of 20. Los Fresnos’ Gerry Martinez and Harlingen High’s Ashton Adams also participated in the event.
The Dragons’ Jaelyn Brooks, also a sophomore, was one point short of earning a perfect score from all three judges in both rounds, earning a total score of 59 to become the dunk contest champion.
Los Fresnos’ Ricky Altamirano was the lone East Valley entrant in the dunk contest, and earned a score of 23 on his second dunk attempt.