Saturday, December 13, 2008
Less than twenty seconds into the second half of Madisonville-North Hopkins’ boys basketball contest with Dawson Springs on Friday evening, the Maroons exhibited in one play how the majority of the night went in a 83-57 North win.
After controlling the in-bounds pass to begin the third quarter, Maroon Robert Hatchett underhand tossed an ally-oop pass to teammate Jon Hood, who gently layed the ball in the hoop over the Dawson defense.
“We’ve been working on that in practice and it felt good to complete it,” Hatchett said after the game of the combo’s designed play. “I wish he could have dunked it, but we’ll take that.”
The duo combined for 24 points in the first half with 12 each and continued to pour it on in the opening minutes of the third quarter.
Following the pair’s first ally-oop hook-up, Hatchett found Hood on the next possession for another mid-air lay-in.
“The second lob, I just kind of looked at him and I don’t know if he heard it, but I said the little code word and he chucked it up there toward the rim,” Hood said. “We have to get it dialed up a little more.”
With the next two North possessions, Hood created a steal and converted on a breakaway lay-up then Hatchett drained a three-pointer to open up a 51-19 advantage.
Although the Panther shooters began to find their touch with increasing ease as the game progressed in the second half, the Maroons never let up and cruised to victory.
During the first half, Hood started the give-and-go connection with Hatchett by making a pass inside, which Hatchett received and went in for a reverse lay-up and the game’s second bucket.
“I think we work well off each other real well,” Hatchett said. “They’re always keying in on him, so that leaves me a lot of open shots and easy ways to drive. It just opens it up for everyone else.”
Later in the first quarter, Hatchett’s brother Carl helped increase the North lead on his own creative shot. Carl hauled in a rebound, went strong to the basket and made the shot despite being fouled. He converted on the ensuing free-throw for a three-point play and 17-4 lead.
Struggling from the field, Dawson did a good job of getting to the free-throw line to create points in the first half.
The Panthers went to the line six times in the second quarter, including three straight possessions.
By game’s end, the Maroons established a new season high for points scored, eclipsing the 79 scored in the team’s previous game against Christian County.
North’s defense also stood out by allowing the squad to move out to such a sizable lead.
“That was our focal point in preparation for this contest,” North coach Marty Cline said. “We wanted to be disruptive...We wanted to make them make some decisions that they might not be comfortable with and when they did that we were fortunate.”
The Panthers tallied just four made field goals in the first 16 minutes of play.
Hatchett said the team’s tenacious effort on the defensive end was a result of hard work throughout the week.
“If you don’t play defense, it doesn’t matter how good you are offensively, you won’t play,” he said. “We get after it in practice and I think that’s really translating.”
Hood made sure to mention the defensive play of teammates J.C. Wade and L.J. Gregory.
“The defense did allow us to get it up there,” Hood said.
“J.C. Wade made huge steals. He made a big steal against
Christian County and made some more tonight. L.J. had some steals. We count deflections because deflections lead to steals.
“One of the things we wanted to do was pressure and we get in the passing lanes and were able to force some turnovers and get some easy buckets.”
Leading by 35 entering the final quarter, Cline found time for some of his reserves to get game-time experience.
Thirteen Maroon players scored at least one point by the game’s final buzzer.
“When our first unit and second unit were on the floor, I though we played defense extremely well,” Cline said. “Overall, defensively I was pleased, but our third unit has a ways to go. At the same time, they were getting valuable experience against their first unit.”
For Dawson, three players reached double-figures led by guard Eathan Scott with 19. Forward Aaron Duke amassed 14 points and Wes Mitchell amassed 13. Each of the three Panther players scored at least 10 points during the second half to decrease the Dawson deficit.
DSHS (2-3) 6 11 15 25 – 57
MNHHS (3-1) 22 20 25 16 – 83
DCHS: Eathan Scott 19 Aaron Duke 14 Wes Mitchell 13 Brett Cobb 8 Ryan McKnight 4 Dayton Reed 2
MNHHS: Jon Hood 28 Robert Hatchett 15 Carl Hatchett 8 Isiah White 8 Andy Christian 4 Joe Kington 4 J.C. Wade 4 Dylan Basham 3 Hayden Holt 3 L.J. Gregory 2 Darin Tomblingson 2 Orlando Green Ryan Robinson 1
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