Boys basketball notebook: Molina, Rios friends and foes

There's not much they don’t know about each other.

Any other day of the week, Harlingen South head coach Brian Molina and Economedes head coach Lalo Rios are best friends.

But for a couple of hours twice a season, the pair put that solid friendship aside and compete against each other.

Molina and Rios met during their junior high days attending basketball camps before proceeding to memorable high school playing careers.

Molina played for his father, Mo, at McAllen Memorial and graduated in 1993. Rios graduated from Edinburg in 1995.

Both cagers eventually went on to become teammates at UTPA in the mid-1990s.

“Anytime I go up against Lalo it’s going to be competitive,” Molina said. “We’ve know each other so long so it’s going to be good.”

But for the past few years, Molina and Rios have been opposing head coaches in District 31-5A.

On Friday, Molina’s Hawks go to Rios and the Jaguars house trying to clinch the 31-5A crown. It would be the first in Molina’s six-year career.

The fact that he’s going up against his best friend will make for a unique and special night for both.

“We were always rivals, even while at Pan Am,” Rios said. “But we’ve always been great friends.”

While Molina is trying to win a league crown on Friday, Rios is trying to stay alive for the fourth and final playoff spot. The Jaguars currently sit one game back of Edinburg and Edinburg North .

“He’s doing a good job at Econ and he’s going to have those guys ready to play,” Molina said. “But we play one quarter at a time and one game at a time. I told our guys to stay focused and not look too much into the future.”

Rios and the Jaguars are coming off a huge win against Edinburg North last week at North.

Just a week ago, the Cougars were in title contention. Now North is three games back of South with two to play and in good shape to make the postseason.

So the Jags needed that win.

“Our backs were against the wall,” Rios said. “If there was a chance to make the playoffs, we needed to win that one.

BIG CHIEF: Not much has been said about Santa Rosa big man Aaron Ramirez.

Here’s all you need to know: he can play.

Ramirez has led the Valley in scoring all season.

On Tuesday, Ramirez signed a letter of intent to play college ball at Lindenwood University.

Later that night, Ramirez scored 45 points in a win against Hebbronville as the Warriors improved to 12-0 in district.

Ramirez currently averages 24.1 points per game and is the only player in the Valley averaging over 20 PPG.

ANOTHER LOGJAM: It seems District 32-5A wouldn’t be itself without a little competition.

At some point in the past couple of weeks, Brownsville Hanna, Brownsville Porter and Weslaco have won big games to put themselves in position for the league crown.

But it’s not too long after those wins that they lose.

Porter, Hanna and Weslaco all sit at 9-3 in 32-5A and Los Fresnos is one game back at 8-4.

Friday’s games could clear up a lot of the mess.

The biggest game of the weekend for 32-5A will take place at Hanna where the Eagles will host the Porter Cowboys.

The Golden Eagles were upset by San Benito on Tuesday to fall into the group.

Weslaco hosts Los Fresnos in another key matchup.

Depending on what happens on Friday, the Weslaco at Porter game on Tuesday could carry a lot of weight.