LOS FRESNOS — Brownsville Hanna and Los Fresnos entered Tuesday night tied atop the District 32-6A standings with identical 4-1 records in league play.
After a back-and-forth, physical battle for 32 minutes, the Falcons now sit alone in first place following a 52-50 take down of the Eagles on Tuesday at Los Fresnos High School.
Los Fresnos improved to 25-7 overall and 5-1 in district, while Brownsville Hanna dropped to 22-11 and 4-2 in district.
“This is what basketball’s all about,” Los Fresnos head coach Marco Hinojosa said. “Nothing is going to be given to you, everything is going to be earned, and we earned it tonight. Hanna is a tremendous ball club. Coach (Fermin) Lucio has done a great job over there and our kids grinded out a win today. Eric (Salazar) hit some big free throws there when it mattered and that was the difference today.”
Tied at 50 with 24.5 seconds left, Hanna moved the ball around and tried to get a last second shot before Los Fresnos’ Eric Salazar came away with a steal with 5.6 seconds remaining. Salazar dribbled past halfcourt and was fouled on a reach-in with 2.5 seconds left and proceeded to knock down a pair of free throws with Hanna in the bonus to give the Falcons the 52-50 lead. A last second Hail Mary from Hanna fell short as the final buzzer sounded and Los Fresnos took sole control of first place.
“I felt great,” Salazar said about stepping up to hit the game-winning free throws. “I had so much confidence that they were going to go in. I practice day-in, day-out, come in here and shoot free throws — I knew they were going to go in. We fought hard. It was ugly but we got a win. Clutch plays down the stretch, back-and-forth — great game.”
Andrew Munoz led Los Fresnos with 17 points and hit a key 3 late to keep the Falcons alive. JJ Salazar had nine points, 10 rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals, while Gio Galvan and Jude Barreda added eight points and seven points, respectively.
“We went down but we didn’t put our heads down. We were always like, ‘we’re going to win this’, and we came out on top,” Munoz said.
Brownsville Hanna’s Beto Galarza put on a scoring show with 20 of his game-high 28 points coming during the second half. Galarza hit tough shot after tough shot from beyond the arc and driving in the lane finishing through contact. He tied the game at 50 with 46 seconds remaining after converting a three-point play with a layup off the glass plus the free throw. Jordan Matamoros added 10 points for Hanna, while Daniel Torres scored 5.
Next for Los Fresnos is a road test against San Benito at 7:30 p.m. Friday at San Benito High School. Meanwhile, Hanna returns home to play host to Weslaco High at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Brownsville Hanna High School.
