HARLINGEN — Harlingen South’s defense allowed only nine points to Brownsville Pace in the second half to come out with a 42-31 victory over the district’s defending champions Tuesday during the opening night of play in District 32-5A.
“I am proud of the guys,” Harlingen South head coach Brian Molina said. “I thought we defended a really good basketball team. I am really proud of them.”
Harlingen South scored 20 points in the fourth quarter. Two points shy of what the team had put up the three quarters prior.
Steven Ortegon led the Hawks in points with a game-high 18 points, but in the fourth quarter Nick Garcia finished nine points, the most of any Hawks player in the quarter.
“What Stevie does, is he draws a lot of attention,” Molina said. “Today, he was giving the ball up and today just happened to be Nick in the right place and he was finishing.”
This was the Vikings first loss in District 32-5A since February 2022.
“Today, was lackluster to say the least,” Brownsville Pace head coach Jose Ramirez said. “We had a tough tournament this weekend and maybe they were not fully recovered, but South was in the same tournament, too. So, no excuse, really.”
Brownsville Pace was led in scoring by Alexis Ramirez and Tyler Rudder, both of whom finished with nine points. Ricky Tijerina chipped in with eight points.
The Vikings defense picked up in the second quarter, only giving up three points in the quarter, a three-point play by Ortegon.
Brownsville Pace did not generate much more offense though, but they were able to find points from the charity line as well as two 3-pointers by Tijerina gave Brownsville Pace a 19-14 halftime lead.
“Credit to Brownsville Pace,” Molina said. “Coach Ramirez does a really good job over there. They slowed us down, but I was proud of my guys, they did not force stuff, they were pretty patient tonight.”
Harlingen South ended the first quarter up 11-8 with a buzzer-beating layup by Ortegon. Garcia stole the inbound pass with three seconds left and found Ortegon for the easy two points.
“It was a good win to start District off,” Ortegon said. “We really needed it after having a tough preseason. I think all of that prepared us for the game today and we stayed composed, got the win.”
Harlingen South returns to action at 6 p.m. Friday at Edcouch-Elsa. Brownsville Paces faces Brownsville Porter at 6 p.m. Friday at Brownsville Pace.