By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
BROWNSVILLE — The fourth quarter of Friday’s District 32-6A game between the Harlingen High Cardinals and Brownsville Rivera Raiders got heated, but the Cardinals stayed focused and picked up a 66-56 road win.
Both benches were issued warnings during the final frame when coaches exchanged words as the contest got physical in the final minutes with the Raiders pushing hard to chip away at the deficit. There was tension on the court and in the stands as the teams battled from start to finish.
Harlingen High was the better team in the second half to secure the victory. The Cardinals shot lights-out from behind the arc for a big 24-point third quarter, and the defensive effort sparked by Eric Quilantan kept Rivera at bay.
“We finally started to make some plays in the second half, shots actually started to fall, so that felt good,” Cardinals coach Clayton Cretors said. “(In the fourth quarter) I just told them the goal is to win the game, not to get into a shoving match or any of those antics. We needed to stay focused and not get involved in any of the after-the-whistle stuff.”
The Cardinals held a 19-12 lead after a strong first quarter. Quilantan’s defensive abilities were on display from the jump as he swiped steals and forced the Raiders to make sloppy passes. Harlingen High used quick, crisp ball movement to create offensive chances in the paint, and John Salinas took advantage to score six points down low. Mike Castillo drove to the bucket and drew several fouls to aid his seven-point quarter to cushion the lead.
Harlingen High went up 10 points early in the second, but Rivera came roaring back. Fabian Noble (16 points), Joseph Arellano and Andres “Chito” Perez (11 points) were key contributors in the comeback as they challenged the Cardinals on the boards and used their physicality to finish shots under the basket. The Raiders got to the free-throw line seven times as they increased their aggressiveness driving to the basket, but they shot 50 percent at the stripe and trailed 29-25 at halftime.
“We were horrible at the line. We shoot 60, 70 free throws a day individually, but when we miss like that, we’re not going to win a ball game. We got to fix it. (Would’ve made) a big difference,” Raiders coach Jesus Alvarez said.
Arellano and Rivera guards Jose Galarza (11 points) and Ramsey Rocha played well to open the third quarter and get their team within three points. But the Cardinals dominated the final four minutes of the frame as their 3-point shooting got red-hot to spark a big swing that opened the lead to 13. Ryan Sanchez sank three shots from deep, and Salinas and Quilantan each added one.
The Raiders cut into the lead with a stifling full-court press to notch steals on their side of the court that turned into quick buckets. The half-court offensive setup wasn’t quite as productive, and the Cardinals intercepted sloppy passes to maintain their cushion.
Rivera charged to the basket consistently during the final frame and reached the charity stripe often, but the shooting struggles continued and it missed eight free-throws in the quarter. A lack of scoring opportunities down low slowed the Raiders’ offense in the quarter as well, and the Cardinals cleaned up the rebounds on forced outside shots.
“I can’t take anything away from the boys, a lot of heart and a lot of effort, but basketball’s a game of four quarters and unfortunately we didn’t have a great second half,” Alvarez said. “We figured we could go inside, and that’s what we did and it was our strength in the first half. But we got away from it in the second half. We called timeouts to try and fix it, but it didn’t work out.”
Castillo led all scorers with 19 points and hit three 3-pointers for the Cardinals, and Sanchez added 12. Quilantan scored 15 points to go along with his relentless defensive and rebounding performance.
“(Quilantan is) a special player,” Cretors said. “He’s probably one of the better defensive players in the Valley. He’s extremely quick and has unbelievable anticipation. He’s the cornerstone of our defense, and he proved again tonight that he can do it with the best of them. Tonight some of his shots started to fall, too, and that gave him some momentum and some confidence.”