By MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
LOS FRESNOS — Before the high school basketball season tipped off, the Los Fresnos Falcons weren’t an odds-on favorite to hoist another District 32-6A championship trophy.
Favored or not, they stand alone once again.
Elian Gonzalez scored 16 points, Sebastian Szpak pitched in 14 and Ricky Altamirano added 12 to lead the Falcons to a 63-46 win over the Rivera Raiders and a fifth straight district crown Tuesday night in Los Fresnos.
“This one is special,” Los Fresnos coach Marco Hinojosa said after the game. “They are all special, but this one means a little more because everyone counted us out. These guys believed in what we preached, and they went out there and executed. I love my kids. It’s been a great year.”
The Falcons came into the night one game ahead of Hanna in the district standings, but the win gives them the title outright as they finish the district season 9-1 and head into the postseason on a three-game winning streak.
Hinojosa said his team had no intention of sharing coming into the night.
“We were focused after the loss at Hanna,” he said. “It hurt, but we want to thank Hanna for that loss, seriously. The way they celebrated that day sparked a fire in my guys, and they haven’t forgotten that. The kids weren’t about to share tonight. They knew they’d go out and win the next three games, and we did.”
Los Fresnos’ bi-district pairing is to be determined.
For Rivera (3-7), the loss and Harlingen South‘s 53-30 win over San Benito means it was eliminated from playoff contention.
The Falcons set the tone of the game early, scoring on each of its first three possessions, and earning an 11-6 lead midway through the quarter.
Rivera answered with a 7-1 run and took a 13-12 lead on a Dylan Lustick bucket.
That was Rivera’s only lead of the night, and it was short-lived as Gonzalez went to the basket two possessions later for a layup. He converted the a three-point play opportunity after a foul.
“We pushed the ball, and we got open shots,” Szpak said. “Rivera is a tough team, but it was hard to stop us consistently because we moved the ball real good and hit shots.”
The Falcons took control during the second quarter, outscoring Rivera 20-10, led by Altamirano, who scored 10 of his 12 points in the quarter.
Rivera coach Saul Villarreal said his team had opportunities to stay in the game during the second quarter but failed to cash in on them.
“Los Fresnos had some turnovers, and we weren’t converting on them,” Villarreal said. “Los Fresnos was converting out of ours and that was the difference, and we were outrebounded. Los Fresnos started to hit shots from the outside, and we had trouble hitting our shots when we had to. We played hard, but we just didn’t put the ball in the hole.”
The Falcons led 37-23 at the half and led by as many as 19 in the fourth quarter.
Rivera’s Valentin Ramirez led the Raiders with 10 points, and Lustick followed with 9.