Bret Templin
HAGERSTOWN, Ind. – The Hagerstown boys basketball team survived a tough battle on Friday night to advance to the finals of the Wayne County Tournament with a 59-52 victory over Centerville.
“We moved on,” Hagerstown Head Coach Bobby Jones said. “A very spirited effort by Centerville. They are definitely getting better.”
“I just felt like, for maybe three-and-a-half quarters tonight, they were the aggressor,” Jones added. “We’re going to to have to play a lot better floor game (on Saturday) against Northeastern.”
The Tigers (9-3) now face two-time defending champ and Class 2A No. 3 Northeastern (8-1) for the championship.
Although Jared Andis led Hagerstown with 17 points, it was Bret Templin, who made 6-of-7 shots from the free throw line that were critical at crunch time.
“He stepped up and hit his free throws, like a senior does,” Jones said of Templin, who finished with 15 points.
Matt Stamper
After a 46-31 loss to the Tigers earlier this season, Centerville Head Coach Seve Beach liked how his team responded.
“A lot of positives we can take from this,” Beach said. “Way more than the first time we played them.”
“We are right there on the cusp of this thing,” Beach added. “There are so many other positives. We are right there. We’ve just need to finish plays.”
The Bulldogs finished plays early as they started the affair with a 9-0 run that was capped by a 3-pointer by Matt Stamper at the 3:01 mark of the opening period. Hagerstown answered with a run to cut the lead to 9-5 at the end of the frame.
The contest remained close as the Tigers led 22-20 by halftime.
In the third quarter, Myles Cunningham put the Bulldogs on top 28-27 with 3:13 to go and then Hagerstown went to work putting together a 9-2 run to finish the period with a 36-30 lead.
“After we got the lead we stopped playing defense,” Jones said. “I think our kids know that they left a little something out there on the floor.”
Centerville was able to stay close in the final stanza as the Bulldogs cut their deficit to 56-52 when Dante Torres hit a 3-pointer with 25 seconds remaining.
Isaiah Neal added 15 points for the Tigers and also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
Stamper topped Centerville with 11 points. Cunningham and Dante Torres finished with 10 each. Justin DuPree led the Bulldogs with eight rebounds.
Centerville (1-8) is back in action on the road at Knightstown next Friday, Jan. 15.
Box Score
HAGERSTOWN (9-3) – Mason Stitt 2 1-1 5, Jared Andis 5 3-4 17, Bret Templin 4 7-9 15, Isaiah Neal 5 5-11 15, Nate Combs 0 0-0 0, Evan Hoover 0 0-0 0, Trent Weiss 1 0-0 3, Drew Pyle 0 0-0 0, Jordan Auker 2 0-1 4. Team – 19 16-26 59.
CENTERVILLE (1-8) – Ricky Torres 4 0-2 8, Myles Cunningham 3 4-6 10, Matt Stamper 3 2-2 11, Alex Brandon 2 1-1 5, Justin DuPree 3 0-0 7, Justyn North 0 1-2 1, Dante Torres 3 3-6 10, Devin Christian 0 0-1 0. Team – 18 11-20 52.
Hagerstown 5 22 36 59
Centerville 9 20 30 52
3-pointers – Hagerstown 5 (Andis 4, Weiss 1), Centerville 5 (Stamper 3, D.Torres 1, DuPree 1). Rebounds – Hagerstown 32 (Neal 11), Centerville 31 (DuPree 8). Turnovers – Hagerstown 20, Centerville 16. Fouls – Hagerstown 22, Centerville 23.