CORPUS CHRISTI — After his team’s loss in a Class 4A regional semifinal Tuesday, senior Cole Pinkerton said his teammates had nothing to be disappointed about.
The Tarpons came up short in the season finale, losing 68-55 to the TABC No. 5 Boerne Greyhounds. But they battled until the very end and chipped away at a large deficit to make the game competitive. Pinkerton, a four-year letterman, said it was a blessing to cap his career with this historic season, which saw the Tarpons end a 31-year district title drought and reach their first Sweet 16 in school history.
“To me, this really meant everything. I was telling the guys, in a situation like this, you can’t be mad,” Pinkerton said. “For us to have this short of a season, not have as much chemistry coming into the season, it meant a lot to just make it this far and win district champs. We lost a lot of seniors and a lot of people thought it’d be hard for us, but everybody stuck together. It was unbelievable and I’m really glad I got to do this with these guys, to make it to the fourth round.”
Boerne’s Ben Phillip hit five 3-pointers during the first quarter to quickly put the Greyhounds on top 21-7. The Greyhounds used their length to force turnovers and control the rebounding in the opening frame.
Pinkerton and junior Kaiden Martinez led an improved effort from Port Isabel during the second quarter. The Tarpons started to compete against Boerne’s size down low, and as they settled down and executed their offensive plays, they started to cut into the deficit. Port Isabel passed the ball around to create looks for different players, and five different Tarpons found the scoreboard to make it 35-18 at halftime.
“It all started with ball movement,” Pinkerton said. “(Boerne had) length, and that’s something we don’t have. We have speed, so we had to use that to our advantage and once we moved the ball around, cutting and passing, it worked really beautiful. The coaches made sure at halftime to not let us get down on ourselves and to keep our heads high. They kept the energy for us, and we knew that it was a blessing to be this far and we didn’t want to go down without a fight.”
Port Isabel’s defense and speed shined during the third quarter. Daniel Zamarron, Gilbert Medina and Will Camacho used tight coverage to keep Boerne’s shooters at bay, and Pinkerton, Martinez and Josue Navarro locked down the paint. The Tarpons racked up steals and defensive rebounds, and used their speed to push the ball up the court for transition points.
Zamarron took a steal and cashed it in for a layup, then another defensive stop led to a strong scoring drive from Medina. Zamarron again swiped the ball from Boerne and took it himself for a bucket, and the quick 6-0 run cut the lead down to 11, the closest Port Isabel had been since the early minutes, to get the large crowd on its feet. The Tarpons fed off that energy to get their best offensive production of the night with a 22-point fourth quarter in which they once again got within 11 of the lead.
“The energy and support from our community, and from the Valley in general, I couldn’t ask for anything else. It’s a dream come true to make it this far,” Pinkerton said.
Boerne’s Devin Styles, Rashawn Galloway and Luke Whidbee came up big during the fourth quarter to carry the Greyhounds to victory and the regional final. The Port Isabel fans expressed their frustration in regards to officiating, which sent the Greyhounds to the free-throw line 10 times during the second half. The Tarpons shot one free throw in the entire contest.
The Greyhounds shot 8-for-12 from the charity stripe during the fourth quarter, and Galloway scored six points on strong drives to the basket to stymie Port Isabel’s comeback attempt.
Pinkerton, Camacho (11 points) and Aaron Villarreal are the only three seniors the Tarpons will be losing after this season, and coach Mike Hazelton put them on the court together to close out the game. Zamarron and Martinez, two of the top juniors on the squad, each scored nine points and were just a couple of Tarpons players who left it all on the court.
“That’s a hard team to play, a team that was one point away from the state semifinals last year with everybody back. Big size advantage,” Hazelton said. “They jumped on us at the start, and after that you look at the final and it looked like an even game. The kids battled to the end. I’m proud of them for playing hard.
“It was a great season. They accomplished a lot,” he added. “I had three seniors, and they all played their hearts (out). Great kids, nice kids that are going to go far, and I’m going to miss them. … We’ve had a good four-year span here, and it keeps getting a little bit better.”
