By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
The basketball battle of Lucio brothers was won this time by the older one.
St. Joseph Academy, coached by Samuel Lucio, rallied from a seven-point deficit in the final four minutes to win 50-47 in a non-district contest that went down to the wire against Hanna, coached by younger brother Fermin Lucio, Tuesday at the Hanna gym.
It marked the first time the brothers faced each other as opposing coaches in a high school matchup.
The Bloodhounds, 15-8, trailed by as much as 13 points, 35-22, early in the third quarter before coming back to defeat a Class 6A opponent for the seventh time this season.
“We’ve played against each other a couple of times in some sports, but this is the first time to go against each other as (head) coaches,” said Samuel Lucio, who is six years older than Fermin. “This is the real thing, and this is what we’ve dreamed about since we were little kids. We both went to school here at Hanna, so this game was pretty special (playing at the Hanna gym).”
The momentum went back-and-forth during the contest.
SJA led 14-9 after one quarter, but the Golden Eagles outscored the Bloodhounds 24-8 during the second period to go up 33-22 by intermission. Hanna outpointed the Bloodhounds 12-0 over the final 2:37 before halftime to gain its 11-point advantage at the break.
Hanna took a 39-34 advantage into the final quarter and led by seven points, 45-38, with 4:02 remaining, but the Bloodhounds then began narrowing the lead.
Trailing 47-43, SJA received new life when Carlos Esteve made a 3-pointer from the left side to pull the Bloodhounds to within one point, 47-46, with 56.2 seconds to go. Teammate Jorge Villarreal then tipped a Hanna inbounds pass to himself and scored on a fastbreak layup to put the Bloodhounds up 48-47 with 25.7 seconds left.
Hanna soon was forced to foul and SJA’s Rodolfo Cabido converted both ends of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity with 8.8 seconds showing to make it a three-point game, 50-47.
Hanna attempted two shots in the final seconds that bounced off the rim before the buzzer sounded to give SJA the comeback victory.
“We played tough and we played hard,” Fermin Lucio said. “In the big picture, this was just another game to help us get ready for District (32-6A). Every Tuesday and Friday it’s going to be just like this (close game), so I think it’s a good learning experience for us. We’ll watch film, see where we made our mistakes and learn from it.
“Getting better for district is really all we’ve got to worry about,” the Hanna coach added. “We’ve got our first district game Friday (at home against Harlingen South), so we’ve just got to get ready to bounce back. That’s our focus now.”
Eight different players scored for Hanna, none in double figures. Adam Lopez and Joe Cavazos led the way with eight points apiece. Jaime Rucoba and Noah Armstrong each added seven points. Cavazos made a pair of 3-pointers and Rucoba had one. Jose Torre and Rick Rocha contributed five points apiece for the Eagles, each with a 3-pointer.
Cabido led SJA with 14 points. Esteve and Cesar Garcia each contributed 11. Esteve drained three 3-pointers and Garcia had one. Also for the Bloodhounds, Villarreal finished with eight points.
Samuel Lucio said Tuesday’s game was a good test for his team as well because the Bloodhounds start TAPPS district play at home Friday against San Antonio Central Catholic.
“I told our guys this game should be a little test (to get us prepared) for our district,” the SJA coach said. “We battled back to win, so that was good for us. I told our team at halftime and then again after the third quarter that there was still a lot of time left and not to be in a hurry. I said, ‘Be quick, but not in a hurry.’ I told them to relax and make one stop at a time. If we were patient and moved the ball around, we were going to get some good shots, and it happened.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to go into our district now (coming off this win).”