We Let an Upset Slip Away 50-49

We had a game plan to hold a high scoring St. Luke’s, undefeated and first place team in the Fairchester League, to 50 points or less.

This would have to be our finest defensive effort of the season, especially with 6’7 Walter Whyte ranked in the top 100 recruits in the country as their main threat.

This was a rematch for the Hornets where Whyte in the first game controlled the backboards and scored 22 points in a 61-51 victory.  It was also a game that the Hornet’s 6’7 Dan Draffan didn’t play due to an injury to his hand.

Hamden Hall came out early with the same determination it had shown in its last victory (over Hopkins) with T.J Rountree, Andrew Rice and Chris Wright scoring 6, 5 and 5 respectfully.

The defensive game plan was working led by the solid man to man defense of Kyle Smith, Andrew Rice,  Michael Di Martino, Dan Draffan and T.J.Rountree, but it came with a major cost as T.J. Rountree, Kyle Williams and Andrew Rice each had two fouls each early in the half.

The score at half time was Hamden Hall 24 and St. Luke’s 17 and the momentum was clearly on the side of the Hornets.

This was the lowest offensive output the “storm “had done the entire season. The defensive plan was working; however, as we all know “it takes two halves’ to win the game”

With 9 minutes to go the Hornets had built a 12-point lead and Whyte was playing with three fouls, but that didn’t stop him as he scored 14 of his game high 18 points in the next 9 minutes along with Jonas Harper who dropped in 10 of his 12 points as well. We play with a shot clock as they do in college and St. Luke’s began to chip away at the lead as the Hornet’s hit a dry spell.

St. Luke’s never had the lead until there was less than a minute left in regulation when Whyte put them up 48 to 46.

Hamden Hall quickly avoided the full court press and Dan Draffan was fouled and made 1 of 2 shots to put us within one point.

Jonas Harper of St Luke’s was fouled and made two foul shots to put St Luke’s up 50 to 47 with 13 seconds left on the clock.

A three-point shot was missed by Rountree and Draffan scored as the buzzer sounded making the score 50 to 49 St. Luke’s.

 

Our opponent is a very good team and I was proud of our boys who gave maximum effort on defense and if it weren’t for mental errors in the last moments of the game the outcome may have been different.  We really let this one slip away.

It takes a full 32 minutes of play combining physical and mental skill to get a victory and the team now knows that it can play against good teams and have a chance to win the game.  We have improved, but understanding that solid defense and a disciplined offense goes a long way in achieving success and is required for a victory.

The Hornets had more field goals 18 to 15 but the game was decided at the charity stripe where the visitors were 18 for 27 while the home team was 11 for 19.

 

Box Score:

Rice-5-0-2/3-12 pts, A.J. Rountree-2-1-4/6-11 pts, Draffan-5-0-1/4-11 pts Wright-1-1-2/2-7 pts, DiMartino-2-0-2/4-5 pts, Smith-1-0-0-2 pts, Williams-0-0-0-Villano-0-0-0, A.Rountree-0-0-0-

16-2-11/19-49Pts.

Leading Scorer-Rice-12 pts

Leading Rebounder-Draffan-9

Leading Assists-T.J. Rountree-4

Leading Steals-Rice-5

Record 11-6 (6-3 League)

Next up league games- Wednesday home against Rye and Friday away against Brunswick

The season continues……….