Miguel Tirado scored six of his game-high 12 points in the final 90 seconds of the game to spur the Harmony Longhorns to a 42-36 win over host Gateway on Monday night.
It was the fifth consecutive win for the Longhorns (5-1) since opening the season, which now includes wins over the Panthers and the Osceola Kowboys, with a narrow 42-39 loss to Tohopekaliga and gave Harmony a 3-1 record against county opposition.
“We certainly did not play our best tonight, but I was proud of the way our kids held on for the win,” Harmony coach Duke Leonardo said. “Gateway is so aggressive on defense and they are so well coached. Add that to the fact that this is such a tough place to win and we’re happy to get out of here with a victory.”
Harmony limited Gateway to just 5-for-24 shooting in the first half and never trailed but only led by three after one quarter and could only take a four-point lead into the locker room at halftime, 19-15.
“Defensively we played pretty well in the first half, but we made some turnovers and didn’t finish some plays so it was disappointing to only lead by four at the half instead of being up by eight or 10. Our play kept them in the game and they took advantage of it,” Leonardo said.
Gateway tied the game early in the third period when they opened on a 4-0 run with Aiden Lake’s layup leveling the score at 19-19 at the 5:37 mark. But the Longhorns would get three pointers from Tirado, Noah Tribe and Vladimir Terrado in the period and Jason’s Trigo’s driving layup at the buzzer allowed the Longhorns to regain control and take a 32-26 lead in the final quarter.
Still the Panthers would fight back. Gateway’s defense would spur a 8-0 run to start the fourth quarter and the Panthers would grab their only lead of the game at 34-32 on Dimas Cervantes jumper from the top of the key at the 4:54 mark.
But back-to-back baskets by Rafael Balines and Tirado put Harmony up for good at 36-34. Down the stretch, Tirado would hit another shot and then can both ends of a one-and-one with 24 seconds left and Caden Scarborough put the game away with two more free throws that pushed the led to six with 18 seconds left.
While hitting free throws down the stretch was the key for the Longhorns’ win, shooting from the charity stripe proved costly for the Panthers. With time winding down, Lake was fouled on a layup but missed both free throws and Vangel Malpica missed the front end of a one-and-one with the Panthers trailing by just two.
“At the end of the day, our shooting proved to be our downfall,” Gateway coach Travis James said. “It’s been a problem all year and we need to start developing some confidence. We miss a few shots and you can see the players start hanging their heads and then they start passing up open shots they should be taking. This is an inexperienced team but this issue is also something that is correctable.”
In addition to Tirado’s 12 points, Trigo added eight and Tribe had seven for the Longhorns. As has been the case all season, Leonardo employed mass substitution with the starting five being rotated at about four minute intervals with a second five throughout the game.
“We have some depth and there’s little different between our starting five and second five,” Leonardo added. “I really comfortable giving both units equal time. It keeps us fresh.”
Cervantes led Gateway with 12 points, Malpica had 11 and Lake chipped in with eight. Daeshawn Williams, who is the Panthers leading scorer this season at 11 points a game was limited to one point.
Gateway (3-4) will play at Celebration on Wednesday before facing Father Lopez and Nease in a Holiday Shootout on Dec. 21-22. Harmony hosts St. Cloud on Wednesday.
The Orange Belt Conference Tournament is scheduled for the week of Jan. 24-27.
