By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — The window of opportunity for McAllen High to capture a district championship is shrinking. There’s three games left in the regular season, and with first-place McAllen Memorial having been upset the week before, McHi coach Ryan Flores understood going into Tuesday’s game that his team must win out if it wants to leapfrog Memorial.
The Bulldogs responded with a 70-42 win over McAllen Rowe — the widest margin of victory this year for McHi — to remain one game back of Memorial in the District 30-6A standings.
With Memorial beating La Joya Juarez-Lincoln on Tuesday, McHi (23-7, 7-2) didn’t pick up any ground. But the Bulldogs didn’t fall behind, either, which was an encouraging sign for McHi, which hosts Memorial next week in a matchup that could help determine the winner of the 30-6A title.
“We needed this win,” McHi coach Ryan Flores said. “This is a big motivational boost for us. And I think this can only carry us and pick us up the rest of the way.”
The Bulldogs won on Tuesday on the strength of their 3-point shooting, drilling six by halftime. Oscar Rangel, who finished with a game-high 20 points, buried four through two quarters, including an 11-point outburst in the opening period in which he hit three 3s.
“I guess we were just feeling it,” Rangel said. “The crowd was giving us that energy. It felt good, and we were just hitting.
“We had a game plan coming in and I thought we executed it perfectly.”
McHi led 34-23 at halftime — thanks in part to Eduardo Garza’s 10 points (all coming in the second period) — and it outscored Rowe 18-2 in the third to pull away. The Bulldogs didn’t hit a 3 after the break, but part of that was due to their persistency in attacking the basket, drawing fouls.
They hit 6 of 9 free throws during the quarter, with Rangel and Deon Ellis (12 points) going to the line the most.
“They played very well,” Rowe coach Jose Luis Yebra said. “They jumped on us from the beginning and they hit their shots, and we just couldn’t hit any shots.”
The loss came at an inopportune part of the season for the Warriors (14-14, 4-5), who entered Tuesday as the No. 4 team in district. Rowe was coming off a 50-45 win over then-undefeated Memorial last week, giving it the type of boost it was seeking in its pursuit of a playoff berth.
But the 3-point-gunning Warriors hit only two from behind the arc through the first three quarters on Tuesday, and struggled to make it much of a ballgame. They converted only one field goal during the third quarter and didn’t hit another until the 6:12 mark of the final period, trailing 57-23.
“We’re a pretty good team when we’re hitting our shots,” Yebra said. “We hit our shots that game (against Memorial) and we were ready to play. I think tonight we weren’t as ready to play as we were in that game.”
“We’re a pretty good team,” he added. “A lot of people think that we aren’t. But we’ll go at it again … and be ready for the next opponent.”
Daniel Sotuyo led Rowe with eight points, including two 3s. Teammates Alex Keith, Michael Rodriguez and Mark Watson chipped in six points apiece.