By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
In the end, it came down to whichever players made the most free throws in a game between District 32-6A’s only unbeaten teams.
Los Fresnos (17-6, 4-0) upset the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers (21-3, 3-1), who are ranked 20th in Class 6A by the TABC, 71-65 on the road Tuesday.
The Falcons made 19 of 28 free throws, including 10 of 14 in overtime, and remained perfect in district play to stay alone at the top of the standings.
“It’s two of the better teams in district going at it,” Los Fresnos coach Marco Hinojosa said. “Nobody wanted to give it up. It was a game of runs. They got the lead, we got the lead. We just made more buckets and more stops at the end than they did.”
Andrew Carrizales went for a three-point attempt with Brownsville Veterans leading 58-55 and 4.8 seconds left in the first overtime. Carrizales was fouled on the shot and went to the line for three.
Stepping up to the line didn’t faze the sophomore, who sank all three shots to send it to overtime.
“I just remembered all the practice I put in the summer, and I know I’ve been there before,” Carrizales said. “It really wasn’t anything new.”
Erick Saldana missed a layup at the other end to send the game to a second overtime.
Brownsville Veterans scored the first points of the second overtime period when Darian Thuku stole the ball on his defensive end and went coast-to-coast for a layup.
Los Fresnos answered on the other end with a bucket from Carrizales, who was fouled on the shot. The sophomore made his free throw to give his team a 61-60 lead. Hugo De La Cruz followed that with four points to give Los Fresnos a five-point cushion about halfway through the period.
Kevin Gomez scored for Brownsville Veterans to cut the lead to three, but Carrizales answered with a layup on Los Fresnos’ end to give his team the 67-62 lead with 1:22 remaining. The Chargers didn’t get any closer to the lead.
“(Carrizales) killed us,” Brownsville Veterans coach Larry Gibson said. “We were really worried about Hugo and Johnny, but 22 just killed us, we couldn’t control him. He’s left-handed, which makes it a bit awkward for us. He did whatever he wanted to do, especially in the second half. He just took over the game. There was nothing we could do.
De La Cruz led Los Fresnos with 25 points, but it was Carrizales who came up big in the second overtime period.
“Hugo (De La Cruz) is our leading scorer and the returning MVP of the district, but we thought it would be a team effort,” Hinojosa said. “It’s not just Hugo over here. It’s team basketball. Andrew’s a great player. All my guys are clutch. They know on any given night anybody can score the basketball. We just got to defend. Tonight, Andrew (Carrizales) stepped up and it was big.”
He scored nine points during the final period of the game, including 5 of 7 attempts from the charity stripe. He finished the game with 23 points, six rebounds and five steals.
Brownsville Veterans had two players finish with double-doubles.
Alex Marquez scored 17 points to lead Brownsville Veterans’ scorers and grabbed 10 rebounds. Aaron Villarreal scored 15 points and had 10 assists.
Brownsville Veterans controlled the lead for most of the first three quarters. The Chargers led 36-35 at the start of the fourth and moved farther ahead with a 3-pointer by Marquez.
Jordan Urbina drained one from behind the arc on Los Fresnos’ next possession to cut the lead back to one. De La Cruz had a chance to put the came away with 4.7 seconds left but missed a jump shot to send the game into the first overtime period.
The loss snapped Brownsville Veterans’ 13-game winning streak, which started after a 56-43 loss to Los Fresnos in the C.E. Vail Tournament on Dec. 11.
“I told them if they let this bother them past tonight, we’re in for a long haul,” Gibson said. “If they forget this past tonight, we’ll be all right. There’s nothing we can do. We can’t go back and don’t throw the ball away (on the inbounds pass) at the end. We can’t go back and not foul the guy shooting the 3-pointer. We can’t change this. There’s nothing we can’t to change it.
“It’s going to hurt (Tuesday night), but (Wednesday) when we come into practice, it’s over with. There ain’t nothing we can do about it. We’ll be all right.”
Joshua McKinney covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @joshuabvherald.