RGVSports.com
McAllen Rowe’s season came to a close Monday night following a 60-45 loss to Laredo United in the Class 6A bi-district round at Roma.
The Warriors (17-15) relinquished a two-point edge at the end of the first quarter, as United ripped off a 26-8 run to pull ahead en route to the area round.
Alex Keith scored a team-high 13 points for Rowe, but it wasn’t enough to counter United’s Ivan Chapa (17 points) and Jordan Herrera (12 points).
“We couldn’t stop them,” Rowe coach Jose Luis Yebra said. “They were running their break, hitting 3-pointers. And defensively we broke down. We didn’t score as much as we needed to, and they really broke the game open right there.”
Rowe cut the deficit to 10 points with about 4 minutes to play, but that’s as far as it got.
“We had some open looks,” Yebra said. “We had good shots, but they didn’t fall there at the end of the game. I felt if we could’ve made one or two (of those shots), the (United) lead would’ve been six (points). But we missed a few free throws that that could’ve helped us and it would’ve been a different game. We just couldn’t get over the hump.”
The loss marked only the loss for the Warriors in a little more than a month. Rowe overcame a 2-4 start in district by winning five of its last six games to close out the regular season, drawing a two-way tie for fourth place with La Joya Palmview.
Rowe secured the third spot, however, after beating Palmview in the seeding game Friday.
“We had a good season,” Yebra said. “We wanted to keep going in the playoffs, but it’s just one of those things where we ran into Laredo United, a good team and a well-coached team. We lost to a good team, but I’m very proud of our kids.”
CLASS 6A BI-DISTRICT
BROWNSVILLE HANNA 53, EDINBURG NORTH 43: At Weslaco East, the Cougars’ Rodrigo Romero poured in a team-high 10 points and Tito Salazar added nine, but it wasn’t enough to contain the Golden Eagles
Brownsville Hanna (22-6) scored 13 points over a five-minute stretch to start the game, finishing the quarter with a 15-7 lead. However, Edinburg North (18-15) answered in the second quarter when Hanna hit a scoring drought. They took advantage by scoring 14 points over the final 4:29 of the half to take a 24-21 lead.
“We were up and down,” Edinburg North Rudy Garcia said. “Our point guard was in foul trouble and that set us back a little bit. We found a group that got us back into the game, but then we just made too many mental mistakes and unforced errors.
“We’re very proud of our guys. We told them, no matter what the outcome was today, we’ve battled through a lot of injuries and a lot of things. We ended up winning six out of the last seven games to put us in the position we were in today.”
Neither team gained a significant edge during the third, and after the Eagles carried a one-point advantage into the fourth, they broke out during the final minutes.
Hanna’s Alex Herrera led all scorers with 22 points, and Gabe Martinez added 11.
CLASS 4A BI-DISTRICT
LA FERIA 69, ROCKPORT-FULTON 38: At Bishop, the Lions Jalen Morell poured in 17 points to lead the Lions into the area round, where they will face Fredericksburg.
Morrell was just one of three players for La Feria (25-8) to score in double figures. Isaiah Martinez netted 16 points, including 10 during the opening period. And Ozzy Cisneros finished with 10.
CORPUS CHRISTI WEST OSO 67, RAYMONDVILLE 45: At Falfurrias, the Bearkats exited the playoffs once again in the opening round following Monday’s loss on the road.
Raymondville, which closed out District 32-4A tied with Zapata for third place with a 7-7 record, finish the season at 11-20.
CLASS 3A BI-DISTRICT
KINGSVILLE SANTA GERTRUDIS ACADEMY 68, BROWNSVILLE IDEA FRONTIER 39: At Raymondville, IDEA Frontier struggled to contain the Lions, effectively ending its season.