HAGERSTOWN, Ind. – Union County and Northeastern advanced to the Class 2A championship game with victories on Friday night.
The fourth-ranked Knights outlasted Hagerstown 59-55 to earn a ticket to Saturday’s finale, while Union County moved on with a 57-41 win over Lincoln in the other semifinal affair.
Northeastern’s Nate Reynolds hit what turned out to be the game-winner against the Tigers.
“I knew I had to take the big shot,” said Reynolds, who finished with nine points. “It was just a good game. I had to keep my composure, hit big shots and come through.”
Reynolds scored his only field goal with 26 seconds left in overtime to put Northeastern ahead for good.
“We beat a very good basketball team,” Northeastern coach Brent Ross said. “To beat them three times in a year is pretty amazing.”
The Patriots (13-12) and Northeastern (20-5) square off Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
“It’s win and survive,” Ross said. “We’ve got to refocus and be ready. Union County is going to be ready. They played a great ball game.”
The Knights were focused during the extra session, especially once Tyler Smith fouled out with 1:18 remaining, after scoring a game-high 28 points.
“Down the stretch, we had better possessions than what they did in the overtime,” Ross said. “They had better possessions than us coming down the stretch in regulation, but (Jared) Andis hit a tough shot to put it into overtime.”
Andis, who had 16 points for the Tigers (17-8), tied the contest at 51-51 with 15 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
“We left it all out on the floor,” Hagerstown coach Bobby Jones said. “I’ve got a locker room of tough kids. They showed it tonight. A couple of bounces here and a couple of bounces there that game could have gone any way.”
After Reynolds scored to make it 57-55, his brother Alex took a charge to give the ball back to the Knights. Nate Reynolds followed with a pair of free throws with 13 seconds remaining to put the game away.
“Those two guys made two big plays,” Ross said.
Freeman Brou tossed in 13 points and ended with a team-high six rebounds for Northeastern.
Jalen Oliver led the Tigers with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Patriots Make Defensive Stand
For the second straight tournament game, Union County coach Mark Detweiler praised his team’s defense.
“We’ve been dailed in on the defensive end of the floor for a few weeks now,” Detweiler said. “We’ve cleaned up some things and they’ve invested a lot of physical energy.”
Union County led 17-13 at the first stop with Logan Sanford leading the way with nine points.
“Logan did what your best player needs to do,” Detweiler said. “He asserted himself early and got things going for us. We needed it because they got off to a good start.”
The Patriots led 29-17 at halftime before they pulled away in the third period building a 45-23 advantage.
Sanford finished with 27 points, while Mason Miller added 16.
For Lincoln (14-8), Hunter Ferris led the way with 19 points, Chase Southerland had 11 points.
Detweiler summed up the night for both he and Ross, who were once high school teammates at Northeastern.
“We’re still playing,” he said.
Box score
LINCOLN (14-8) – Bryan Hilbert 1 0-0 2, Caleb Craig 0 0-0 0, Chase Southerland 4 0-0 11, Hunter Ferris 7 3-4 19, Garrett Pumphrey 2 1-2 5, Austin Lanich 0 2-2 2, Josh Gardner 1 0-0 2, James Pugh 0 0-0 0, Garron Laymon 0 0-0 0, Austin Wampler 0 0-0 0, Seth Martin 0 0-0 0, Seth Morris 0 0-0 0. Team – 15 6-8 41.
UNION COUNTY (13-12) – Cameron Sanford 0 3-6 3, Cameron Donovan 1 2-6 4, Mason Miller 5 4-4 16, Logan Sanford 9 3-3 27, Derek Dearth 1 0-0 2, Preston Scott 1 0-1 2, Mook Shepler 1 0-2 3, Joey Weller 0 0-0 0, Trevor Rieboldt 0 0-0 0, Tyler Osborne 0 0-0 0, Luke Haas 0 0-0 0, Leighton Schulte 0 0-0 0. Team – 19 12-22 57.
Lincoln 13 17 23 41
Union County 17 29 45 57
3-pointers – Lincoln 5 (Southerland 3, Ferris 2), Union County 9 (L. Sanford 6, Miller 2, Shepler). Rebounds – Lincoln 27 (Pumphrey 7), Union County 28 (Donovan 9, Miller 7). Turnovers – Lincoln 14, Union County 5. Fouls – Lincoln 20, Union County 14. Fouled out – Hilbert.
Box score
NORTHEASTERN (20-5) – Tyler Smith 12 3-8 28, Kaleb Mikesell 2 0-0 4, Nate Reynolds 1 7-10 9, Harrison Rice 0 2-2 2, Jordan Stolle 0 0-0 0, Freeman Brou 3 7-9 13, Jalen Hillard 1 0-0 3, Alex Reynolds 0 0-0 0. Team – 19 19-29 59.
HAGERSTOWN (17-8) – Trey Kelley 2 2-4 7, Jared Andis 5 2-2 16, Isaiah Neal 0 6-8 6, Jalen Oliver 7 5-9 20, Evan Hoover 1 2-2 4, Drew Pyle 0 0-0 0, Trent Weiss 1 0-0 2. Team – 16 17-25 55.
Northeastern 16 26 42 51 59
Hagerstown 14 21 38 51 55
3-pointers – Northeastern 2 (Smith, Hillard), Hagerstown 6 (Andis 4, Kelley, Oliver). Rebounds – Northeastern 29 (Brou 6), Hagerstown 29 (Oliver 10). Turnovers – Northeastern 11, Hagerstown 12. Fouls – Northeastern 20, Hagerstown 22. Fouled out – Rice, Smith, Hoover.