Hagerstown Head Coach Bobby Jones talks to Branton Payne during a 51-48 Tigers win over Northeastern on Thursday, Feb 1.
HAGERSTOWN, Ind. – Knock, knock.
Who’s there? The Hagerstown boys basketball team.
“We’ve been knocking on the door for the last couple of years,” Hagerstown Head Coach Bobby Jones said. “Northeastern has brought out the best of Hagerstown.”
For Hagerstown on Thursday, the best was finally good enough as the Tigers defeated the Knights 51-48 in a Tri-Eastern Conference affair.
It wasn’t easy for the Tigers who trailed 10-5 at the first stop and 30-23 at the intermission.
“We just looked dejected and burned out,” Jones said of his team as they went into the locker room at halftime. “I just simply said, ‘Is this they way you guys want this to end tonight?'”
It worked as the Tigers closed the gap to 37-36 after three quarters.
“They took it to heart,” Jones said. “They came out in the second half and played hard. That’s the hardest I’ve seen my kids play this season.”
The effort for the Tigers ended a 12-game losing skid to Northeastern, while also stopping the Knights’ 32-game conference winning streak.
“The law of averages some times works against you,” Northeastern Head Coach Brent Ross said. “We had a 12-point lead in the second quarter with the basketball ball and we turned the ball over twice and gave them five easy points.”
“You can’t do that,” Ross continued. “We haven’t learned how to put a team away.”
Northeastern’s last loss in the TEC was a 75-64 decision at home with Winchester on Feb. 15, 2013. The last time the Tigers defeated the Knights was 56-53 in Hagerstown on Feb. 3, 2012.
Down to the Wire
In the final quarter, Jalen Oliver’s driving lay-up put the Tigers up for good at 49-48 with 39 seconds left.
“They made a couple more plays than we did,” Ross said. “We’ve got to bounce back.”
Hagerstown is now 10-5 overall and 4-1 in the TEC. The Knights are 11-6, 3-1. Union County leads the league at 14-3, 6-0.
“We control our own destiny for our fifth (straight) conference title,” Ross said of the pending battle with the Patriots next Friday in Fountain City. “We’ve got to win out.”
Jones praised his entire team, but felt there were three things at contributed to the win.
“Our kids played much harder in the second half,” Jones said. “We also brought Brady McMillan in and we put him on (Northeastern point guard) Jalen Hillard. He did a phenomenal job.”
“Third, Jalen Oliver led our team to victory,” Jones added. “He shot 7-of-8 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. It was nice to see him attack the basket.”
Oliver scored 11 of his 17 points in the final stanza. Branton Payne also had 17 points for the Tigers. McMillan finished with seven.
For the Knights, Freeman Brou led the way with 13 points. Carter Lumpkin tossed in 11 and Hillard ended with 10. Kolden Vanlandingham added eight.
The Knights won the JV game 34-25 with Quantrell Gammon and Wes Mull leading the way with 10 points each.
Collin Romack led the Tigers with nine and Braden Himelick had eight.
Both teams are back in action on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers entertain Franklin County (6-10), while the Knights travel to Monroe Central (8-8).