HARLINGEN — It wasn’t a pretty game of basketball on either side, but the Harlingen South Hawks’ defense set the tone and outlasted the McAllen Bulldogs 39-31 in the Hawks’ season-opener Tuesday night at Harlingen High School South.
McAllen (5-3) struggled to make shots throughout as the Hawks’ (1-0) quick hands forced errant passes and tough shots by the Bulldogs, off-setting South’s own troubles from the field.
“I thought the defensive effort was good and our guys met their defensive goals almost every quarter. Obviously we’ll have nights like this where the ball isn’t falling, but I told them if we guard good, we’ll always be in the ball game,” South head coach Brian Molina said.
“We did a good job limiting them to one possession, but credit to McHi, they made some tough shots.”
With an inexperienced squad returning for South, an early season win against a more experienced team is important for Molina.
“Anytime you can start the season with a win, it’s a good one. McHi is a very experienced team who brought back four starters from last year’s bi-district team we faced in bi-district last year,” Molina said. “It really showed down the stretch.”
Aside from the 13 first-quarter points the Bulldogs scored to start the game, they did not score more than eight points in any of the remaining three quarters.
The Hawks started the second quarter on an 8-0 run and scored just 10 points in the quarter. However, South limited McHi to one bucket in the second to take a 23-15 lead into the half.
South’s consistency on defense made the Bulldogs uncomfortable on offense, forcing some on-the-fly play.
“It seemed like we couldn’t set up our offense. Every time we set up, we got a good look, but when we tried to do our own thing, it looked out of control,” McAllen head coach Ryan Flores said.
“When you play Harlingen South and a defense with a great coach like Brian Molina, it’s going to be tough to score. We just need work on individual drills and repetition.”
In the third, South began on an 8-2 run, fueled by a pair of threes from Christian Pena and Gabe Britten, giving the Hawks their largest lead at 31-17.
Britten finished the night with 15 points and Pena finished with 13, including three from downtown.
McAllen actually outscored South 8-6 in the fourth, as McAllen’s Joan Lopez scored six points late to cut the score down to single digits.
He finished the game with 12 points to lead McHi, while Oscar Rangel followed with eight.