By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
SAN BENITO — The numbers 20, 2 and 0 were of particular significance Tuesday for the Brownsville Veterans Memorial basketball team.
The Chargers reached the 20-win plateau on the season with a 63-41 District 32-6A victory at San Benito.
Also, the road win meant the Chargers now have two victories in district against zero losses. Both are desirable numbers to have at this point of the 32-6A schedule.
“This feels great,” Chargers coach Larry Gibson said of reaching 20 wins. “Nothing but smiles. I don’t think we’ve ever won 20 games before. We won 19 two years ago, and this is the first time to get to 20, at least since I’ve been here.
“Our guys are playing very well,” Gibson added. “They’re pushing the ball, they’re not backing off from anybody and they’re just giving us everything they’ve got. This team makes you feel good.”
The Chargers never trailed. They led 11-0 before the Greyhounds scored their first basket during the final seconds of the opening quarter.
The first period ended with Brownsville Veterans on top 11-4. The Chargers were up 30-21 at halftime and 52-29 going into the final quarter.
“I thought this was a very physical game,” said Gibson, whose squad was coming off Saturday’s district-opening 60-35 triumph at home against Hanna. “San Benito makes you play physical because they’re a physical team. I think we adjusted to their style of play, and I think we fought hard and didn’t let their style of play affect our game. We missed too many easy shots, though, but we still played tough.”
The Greyhounds, 0-2 in district, cut the lead to four points, 23-19, when Smiley Escamilla hit a 3-pointer from the left side with 3:28 remaining in the half. But that was as close as San Benito came to catching the Chargers. A few minutes later it was 30-21 at intermission.
Brownsville Veterans held its biggest advantage of 26 points, 63-37, when Erick Saldana received a pass in the lane and scored from underneath at the 3:46 mark of the fourth quarter.
Escamilla made a pair of free throws with 3:06 to go, and teammate Ryan Reza put back a rebound with 1:42 left to account for the 22-point final score of 63-41.
San Benito’s guard duo of Mario Aguirre and Escamilla led the way for the Greyhounds with 21 and 13 points, respectively. Each hit three 3-pointers as Escamilla’s all came during the second period. No one else scored more than two points for San Benito.
Four of Brownsville Veterans’ six scorers in the game tallied double figures. Saldana led the way with 16 points. Next came Alex Marquez, Kevin Gomez and Darian Thuku with 13, 12 and 10 points, respectively. Gomez logged a pair of 3-pointers.
Next up for the Chargers is a 32-6A matchup at home at 6 p.m. Friday against Harlingen High (1-1). San Benito continues district play as well at 6 p.m. Friday at Lopez.
“It should be a great one when we play Harlingen (on) Friday night,” Gibson said.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.