HARLINGEN — Neither team put on a shooting clinic, but that wasn’t a problem in Harlingen South’s second outing of the year.
The Hawks drove to the basket on offense and forced turnovers on defense as they upended the Edinburg Economedes Jaguars 44-26 on Tuesday night at Harlingen South High School.
The Hawks (2-0) took an early lead, but the Jaguars hung around into the third quarter.
South led by only eight, but shut the door with a 17-0 run that stretched from late in the third quarter into the early fourth.
Still, the Hawks are trying to find their rhythm just two games into the young season.
“Defensively, I thought we were OK, but there are still some things we have to tune up,” South head coach Brian Molina said. “It’s only our second game out, but we’re still learning how to play with one another a bit. Overall, I’m pleased with the effort.”
For the Jaguars, they returned just one varsity player from a year ago and the inexperience showed with second-half turnovers.
“I think the youth and inexperience played a role in this right now. We’re playing with a freshman point guard so we have to live with some of these mistakes,” said Jaguars head coach Carlos Ramos. “We weren’t as flustered as I thought we were going to be, but it’s a part of growing up.”
South hit just three shots from downtown, two coming in the fourth when Aaron Briones and Luke Bradford hit back-to-back treys to push the Hawks’ lead to 23 during a late run.
“I think once we keep playing, the shots will fall,” Molina said. “We were a little tight with it being our first home game. We still have a fairly young team so I think some of the jitters played into the shooting tonight.”
Bradford led the Hawks with 16 point, 11 coming in the first half, while Briones recorded nine.
For Economedes, Angel Salinas scored nine, while teammate Miguel Gonzalez put in eight.
Six of Gonzalez’s points came on an 11-4 fourth-quarter run, which was sparked when the South reserves hit the floor late in the fourth leading 40-15.
It was the Jaguars’ best stretch of play on the night, so Ramos will try and build off that.
“Any points we can score on a little run like that is positive,” Ramos said. “It’s a building block. We have the foundation, we’re just building. Our wall isn’t high right now, but hopefully with time, it’ll be a fort.
“We’re young, but that’s no excuse — hats off to Harlingen South.”