By CONSTANCIO MARTINEZ, JR.
Special to the PRESS
The Port Isabel Tarpons hosted the La Feria Lions this past Friday, Jan. 13, in a district matchup. The Lions gave the Tarpons different looks on defense which took them out of sync a handful of times, but the Tarpons ultimately prevailed 61-56.
Port Isabel’s Jeffery Smith opened the game with a three-point basket. La Feria responded with a basket in the paint from their center, Noah Conde. The Lions’ aggressive defense stymied PI’s offense as La Feria went on a 10-0 run. PI finally broke through the Lions’ defense and scored to make it 10-5 with 4:23 left in the quarter. Port Isabel got more aggressive on defense which helped them retake the lead (11-10), forcing La Feria to call a timeout. The teams went back and forth as the quarter wrapped up with the Tarpons leading 16-13.
As the second quarter got started, both teams’ offenses struggled, but Port Isabel did more so. With 3:40 left in the quarter, the Lions tied the game up at 17-17. Intent on getting PI back on track, Cleveland Smith took the inbound pass and quickly drove down the court for the layup, giving PI its first basket from the field. The game slowed to a crawl after the teams met their foul limit and the refs seemed to call a foul on every play. By the end of the quarter, PI headed into the locker room with a 30-23 lead.
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