HIDALGO – The Wharton Tigers are annual visitors to Hidalgo’s Pirate Classic. They’re glad to be back again this season.

“It’s my third time coming down here and gives us a feel for the regional tournament,” said Wharton senior Cameron Scarlett. “It’s nice to come down here and focus on basketball.”

This time around, they’re arriving with a lot on their minds. The Houston-area town suffered heavy flooding due to Hurricane Harvey. Several players on the team lost their homes.

“It was real bad,” said Wharton senior J’lynn Davis. “A lot of people lost their house and stuff. People had to evacuate. My side of town got hit the worst. I lost my house too. It just made the community come as one though.”

“Just got together and prayed to God that everything would be alright you know,” said Wharton senior Reggie Ephran. “We are just going to do it for basketball season and do it for the town. It really brought us together.”

Throughout the recovery process, the boys have made coach Seth Due proud. Following the flooding, the team gathered to help a teammate clear out his damaged home.

“That afternoon we had weights and open gym and all those were kids were hitting me up about coming up there and getting into the gym and the weight room,” said Due. “They didn’t use the fact that we had been helping out that morning as an excuse. They just came in there and were ready to get to work.”