BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — McAllen Memorial coach Sam Cortez and Harlingen High coach Greg Yates have quite a bit of history with each other. The Mustangs and Cardinals met on the hardwood two other times this season, but Cortez and Yates have a decades-long friendship.
“Coach Yates was a coach when I played for him at San Benito,” Cortez said. “We used to call him Larry Bird, because he’d wear those green Converses, and he could shoot it.”
Cortez played at San Benito before graduating in 1988, and Yates took an assistant coaching position at San Benito for the 1986-87 season. Yates moved to a job at La Feria following his one season with the Greyhounds.
In the Mustangs and Cardinals’ third get-together, Harlingen High staved off Memorial to win 59-55 on Memorial’s home floor Friday night in a UIL Class 6A area round game. The Cardinals advance to the regional quarterfinals to meet Laredo Alexander, which outlasted Los Fresnos in overtime on Friday.
“We beat them the first time, they beat us the second time, and they got us again tonight,” Cortez said. “I don’t want to use the word ‘hate,’ but I don’t like playing them (Harlingen High), because they’re family to me.”
“His team showed a lot of character,” Yates said. “We were just fortunate the clock went out.”
The Cardinals (29-10) prevailed on the road despite losing two important pieces during the game. Harlingen High’s leading scorer, junior Michael Arellano with 19.0 points per game, was lost in the second quarter to a left knee injury. After scoring seven of his nine points in the third quarter, senior Jeremy Vasquez (10.9 points per game) was carted off the court with an injury at the 4:30 mark of the fourth quarter.
“We go about 10 deep on our bench,” Yates said. “They’re used to getting out there and doing what they need to do. I thought they did well tonight weathering the storm. We also hit some key free throws in a tough environment.”
Junior guard Diego Balzadua scored 18 points for the Cardinals, who never trailed. McAllen Memorial (25-10) senior Chris Flores was the top scorer in the gym with 21 points, followed by fellow seniors Elian Reyna and Josh Sanchez, who chipped in with 10 points apiece.
“It’s one of those games where things don’t go your way,” Sanchez said. “We were trying to do our best to come back, but Harlingen’s a good team. We knew we couldn’t make careless mistakes. We couldn’t get back on the horse.”
Memorial guards Ace Chavez and Chris Melendez — in addition to Flores, Sanchez and Reyna — are seniors who started the final game of their careers on Friday.
“We’ve come a long way since my freshman year,” Sanchez said. “I’ve had a lot of memories with Sam (Cortez) from the year my brother left to last year, which was a rebuilding year, and this year having a lot of seniors on the team. We built a lot of chemistry the last two years. It’s hard to see it end this way.”
“They played together,” Cortez said. “They were always competitive and they never gave up. We’ll have a lot of big shoes to fill.”