PHARR — Friday’s Class 6A bi-district playoff matchup between Los Fresnos and PSJA North was supposed to feature two of the Rio Grande Valley’s top guards going head-to-head in the Falcons’ Gerry Martinez and the Raiders’ Elijah De La Garza.
The matchup never came to fruition, however, as De La Garza was not allowed to play due to wearing a cast on his right hand while recovering from a broken thumb that was not cleared by officials.
The Falcons capitalized and soared to a 68-50 win over the Raiders at PSJA North High School to punch their ticket to the second round of the playoffs for a seventh straight season.
“I’m happy for the kids. This is one of our goals that we had all year,” Los Fresnos head coach Marco Hinojosa said. “These are expectations now. We won our first bi-district championship in school history six years ago and it hasn’t been easy. Those guys before us laid that foundation and now it’s expectations for us to win that bi-district championship. We’ve been lucky enough to win it seven times in a row now. I’m just proud of these kids, staying humble and staying hungry — just a great group of kids.”
The Raiders (13-9, 11-5) held a tight lead after one quarter as Adrian Stewart scored seven quick points to put PSJA North ahead.
Los Fresnos (23-4, 11-3) then found its rhythm on both ends of the floor during the next three quarters to secure the first round playoff win and eliminate PSJA North from the postseason.
Raiders head coach Angel Alonzo said he was proud of his team’s heart.
“We played extremely hard and I’m proud of their 100% effort they gave us. Until the very last second, they played as a team and I’m proud of every single one of our players and our seniors,” Alonzo said.
Stewart led the Raiders with 11 points, while Max Quintana and Juan Torres each scored nine.
Los Fresnos’ Martinez finished with a game-high 18, as Darius Garcia and JJ Salazar both scored in double figures for a combined 24 points.
“Basketball is a game of runs. PSJA North threw their punches at us and that’s a great team with great coaches all the way around,” Hinojosa said. “We told the kids to hang in there and we’ll make our run and we made that run in the second quarter. We took that lead into halftime and extended that lead. We spread them out a little bit and were able to get open looks.”
PSJA North finishes the 2020-21 season at 13-9 overall and sends off a group of seven seniors in Matt Cantu, Daniel Estrada, Kaleb Galvan, Ryan Mata, Johnathan Rodriguez, De La Garza and Quintana.
“Those kids have been in our system for five years and I’ve seen them grow up from teenagers to young adults. They’re very positive, beautiful kids and they’re a huge part of this success and I want to give them the credit they deserve,” Alonzo said.
Los Fresnos moves on to the second round to face the winner between Laredo Nixon (12-5, 7-4) and No. 15 San Antonio O’Connor (18-3, 10-1). Nixon and O’Connor are tentatively scheduled to play at 5 p.m. Monday in San Antonio.