Brownsville Hanna surges past La Joya High in first round

2 months ago 55

BROWNSVILLE — Brownsville Hanna erased two double-digit deficits to pick up a 60-50 bi-district victory over La Joya High Monday night at Brownsville Hanna High School.

Eagles guards Beto Galarza had 24 points and Jordan Matamoros dropped 19 points to help lead Hanna to the win against District 31-6A’s co-champions, the La Joya High Coyotes.

“Those guys are district champs for a reason, they came out and hit us in the mouth,” Brownsville Hanna head coach Fermin Lucio said. “Luckily our boys have gone through adversity all year long in what I think is one of the toughest districts in the Valley.”

“It kind of got us ready for this moment. I think we reacted to it in the right way and we are excited to go to round two,” Lucio added.

The Eagles outscored the Coyotes 24-5 in the fourth quarter as they really pushed their defensive efforts to another level in the fourth quarter. Lucio said his team’s defense led to the offensive output shown Monday night.

“It’s the coaching,” Galarza said. “We stick to that one defense the whole game, and it helped.”

Galarza, the 2023 all-metro newcomer of the year, was money in the second half from various spots on the court. He finished with three 3-pointers on the night.

“It was just my teammates,” Galarza, a junior, said. “They gave me the ball in the right places and I had to shoot it.”

Matamoros gave the Eagles a 56-48 lead midway through the fourth quarter by hitting a nasty 3-pointer that was set up by a crossover and a screen. Matamoros followed it up with a layup in transition after a steal to send the crowd into a frenzy and give his team an 8-point lead.

Matamoros also said the Eagles have perfected the team’s go to defense and it came in handy Tuesday night.

“We are going to keep on using it and if we need to switch it up we will,” he said. “So far it is caring us to victories.”

Galarza gave the Eagles their first lead of the second half late in the third quarter off of steals and then followed it up in the fourth with a three.

La Joya High came out strong in the third quarter with the game tied 23-23 at the break. In a blink of an eye the Coyotes were up 39-28.

The Coyotes were led in scoring by Leo Villarreal with 12, Owen Benoit had 10, Hunter Morales also had 10 and Leo Hinojosa had 9 – all 3’s.

Lucio said he was not worried about being down during the Coyotes’ run in the second half because they had been there before this season. It also happened early in the game.

La Joya High started the first half strong, going up 16-6 at one point before the Eagles chipped away thanks to scoring off of turnovers and the offensive output from Galarza and Matamoros, but also Daniel Torres – who had some good finishes and hit a 3-pointer – and also Jesus Leal – who had six points in the fourth quarter in the paint.

The Eagles had a point to prove tonight after being underestimated prior to the season beginning because of the amount of seniors graduating the year prior, but Brownsville Hanna proved the naysayers wrong by only finishing one game off a District 32-6A title and knocking off a one-seed in the bi-district round.

“A lot of people did doubt us,” Matamoros, a senior, said. “No one was really there for us, they ranked us under teams that we beat twice in the season, but the coaches kept us going … we just came out with the W, and I thank my coaches and teammates for that.”