MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — Much like Harlingen and San Benito’s first meeting, it was all Greyhounds once again Friday night.
Aside from trailing 2-0 early, the Greyhounds never trailed and cruised along to a 61-46 win, and a 2-0 District 32-6A sweep of the Harlingen Cardinals.
In the first half, sloppy play on both ends prevented the ’Hounds (15-12, 6-2) from ever leading by more than eight points as the Cards (17-9, 3-5) stayed within striking distance, but nothing more.
A strong 9-0 start to the second half from San Benito gave them the cushion they needed to finish out the game.
Despite getting the win, the ’Hounds’ slow first half wasn’t what they wanted to see on the road in a rivalry game.
“We play good at our house, but at opponents’ house you can’t (play sloppy). However, we were able to re group,” said San Benito head coach Eddie Abrego said.
“We like to keep on going and played well (in the second half). We’re at the point of the season where we want to hit on all cylinders and if we don’t, then we’re not the caliber of team we want to be. We need to strive for that.”
For Harlingen, the offense once again was not able to get on track as turnovers and missed shots under the basket kept them from taking advantage of San Benito’s errant passes and turnovers.
“San Benito got off to good start on us. We fought our way back a couple of times, but they made some runs and we weren’t able to convert on our opportunities,” Harlingen head coach Greg Yates said.
“All the credit to (San Benito), they’re an outstanding team. Their guards can break down our guards and they get to the hoop. Their bigs come into play and they got some of the best post players in our district. They’re a good, solid team.”
For San Benito, post players Eddie Delgado and Jordan Briones had big games underneath thanks to solid passing throughout.
Briones ended the night leading all scorers with 19 points, while Delgado posted 12 more.
The two combined for 12 points during the fourth quarter to help keep the Cards from getting any closer than nine points.
Meanwhile, guard Joey Sauced posted 16 for the ’Hounds, 12 coming in the second half.
The Cardinals went into the break down 28-20, but then trailed by as many as 17 points in the third quarter after San Benito opened the second half with a big run.
The Cards then launched their own 9-0 run led by Elijah Rhodes’ six points in that span.
Those nine points were the only points from the Cards in the third as the ‘Hounds finished the quarter on a 6-0 sprint to head into the fourth leading 43-29.
In the fourth, Harlingen’s Ernie Ramirez scored 12 points, but the effort turned out to be for naught.
Rhodes and Ramirez each finished with 15 points.