HARLINGEN — After losing a heartbreaker to Los Fresnos last week, the Harlingen South Hawks were eager to take care of business against the Brownsville Hanna Eagles on Tuesday night.
Sure enough, the Hawks did just that by defeating the Golden Eagles 60-49 and improve to 5-3 on the season to keep pace with the second-place Falcons (7-1).
Junior point guard Aaron Briones led the Hawks in scoring with 22 points along with four rebounds, two steals and one block.
“I was really feeling it today. Whenever I had a good shot, I took it and was able to convert so that’s how the game went today,” said Briones.
“Hanna’s a good team and to be able to get this win helps us moving forward, especially with them breathing down our necks in the playoff race,” added South head coach Brian Molina. “This victory gives us some breathing room, but credit to Hanna because they gave us all we could handle tonight.”
With that being said the Eagles had a dominant first half against the Hawks and were able to take a 26-23 lead at the half, leaving South fans stunned at how close the game was.
Unfortunately, Hanna’s momentum came to an end in the third quarter when South went on a 9-2 run in the opening minutes of the second half.
Briones, along with teammate Grant Lowery, drained key three-point shots and snagged a few rebounds in the process to help South steal the lead 44-36 at the end of the third.
“We made a couple of adjustments on defense for the second half and were able to get a couple of key stops,” said Molina. “When they tried to pressure us, our guys were able to break the press and hit a couple of three pointers in transition, which is what they can do pretty well.”
The Hawks were able to carry that momentum over into the fourth quarter with a 12-6 run that sealed the victory.
South’s Noah Perez and Lowery both had 11 points each, with Brandon Bennett leading the team in rebounds by notching six along with two blocks.
