By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
With just four games remaining in the District 32-6A season, crunch time is nearing for a handful of teams.
Two of those teams — the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers (17-11, 6-4 in district) and Los Fresnos Falcons (18-10, 7-3) — will face each other at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Brownsville for their second meeting of the district season.
The teams first played Jan. 13, and the Falcons bested the Chargers 68-48 behind a 26-point night from point guard Hugo de la Cruz.
As it stands, Brownsville Veterans is tied for fourth with the San Benito Greyhounds and could use a win to remain in the playoff picture.
Fresh off a 60-55 win over the Harlingen High Cardinals on Tuesday night, Chargers coach Larry Gibson said he’d expect his team’s improved man-to-man defense to help in the attempt to slow the threat de la Cruz presents.
“I feel you’ve got to control the point guard,” Gibson said. “If you don’t control him, you’re in trouble. Hugo does a great job for them.
“What we can take away from this game (against Harlingen High) is that our man defense was great. I think it’s a lot better now. We’ll play a lot better man defense against (Los Fresnos) this time.”
FINISHING STRONG
Following a loss to Brownsville Veterans on Tuesday, the Harlingen High Cardinals’ hopes to make the playoffs have been effectively extinguished.
The Cardinals own a 3-7 district record and are four games removed from a postseason spot with four games remaining. With anything less than winning each of their remaining contests, they’ll need to look ahead to next season.
However, Harlingen High coach Greg Yates expects his team to compete through the rest of the year in preparation for the 2015-16 season.
“(The message is to) keep on improving, keep your heads up and take it one game at a time,” Yates said. “Luckily, I started five underclassmen so that’s a positive. It’s nice to have all those kids back. There’s two sophomores and three juniors that are in the starting lineup. I’m looking forward to them to improve because they’ve got a lot of games ahead of them. Not only this year, but next year.”
EAGLES NEED TO WAIT
The Hanna Golden Eagles have been atop the District 32-6A standings since the beginning of the season.
With an 8-1 record in district, Hanna had a chance to secure a playoff berth with wins over the Harlingen South Hawks on Tuesday and Rivera Raiders on Friday.
But the Hawks had different plans.
Harlingen South improved its record to 7-3 with a 63-53 win over Hanna on Tuesday, forcing the Eagles to wait until at least a Feb. 10 road game against Los Fresnos to secure a place in the postseason.
Adam Kujawski covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @adamkujo1.