DaShawn Hampton
HAGERSTOWN, Ind. – The Northeastern boys basketball team claimed its third straight Wayne County Tournament title on Saturday night with a 58-72 victory over Hagerstown.
A pair of free throws and a critical 3-pointer by DaShawn Hampton made the difference for the third-ranked team in Class 2A.
“I told him I hadn’t been more proud of a kid in a long time,” Northeastern Head Coach Brent Ross said.
Scoring just five points in the contest, Hampton couldn’t have picked a better time for his moments. He gave the Knights the lead for good at 37-34 when he hit his 3-pointer at the 7:06 mark of the fourth quarter.
“He’s a senior,” Ross said. “He lost his starting spot a couple weeks ago, and I think he wants it back. He had a good all-around ball game tonight.”
The two free throws came with 14.8 seconds left when he put his team ahead 56-62 to put the game out of reach as the Knights won their third county championship in a row.
Tyler Smith hit two free throws for the final points for the contest. He ended the night with 27 points with 15 coming in the last period as the Knights rallied. They had trailed at the end of every quarter.
“I just thought the effort was there,” Hagerstown Head Coach Bobby Jones said. “The defensive effort was there. Our box outs were good and we rebounded the ball pretty good, I think, but we just went away from attacking in the second half. Northeastern just gave the ball to Tyler and he drove and got to the free throw line.”
Bailey Stewart added 10 points for the Knights, while Robert Smith and Nate Reynolds finished with eight points each.
Jared Andis
Jared Andis topped the Tigers with 22 points and drew praise from his opponent.
“What a great kid and competitor,” Ross said.
Isaiah Neal tossed in eight points and Nate Combs added seven, while both grabbed eight rebounds.
But Jones felt as if the Tigers needed more to get the job finished.
“I thought for the most part we did a good job of attacking in the first half,” Jones said. “Then we quit attacking in the second half.
“You can’t do that against Northeastern,” he added. “We just went away from what made us successful in the first half.”
Hagerstown led 13-7 after one period and then 22-18 at the intermission.
“You talk about our slow start, and I credit that to Hagerstown’s defense,” Ross said. “I called a timeout there somewhere in the first quarter, and the first thing I told our kids was relax. This is the best man-to-man defensive team you’ve faced yet this year. They’re taking away the things we want to do.”
“They were taking away our ball reversal,” Ross continued. “We couldn’t get any offense going. I really thought the second half, our kids played smart and we took advantage of some mismatches.”
Winners of five straight games, Northeastern (9-1) visits Indianapolis to face Crispus Attucks on Friday, Jan. 15.
Hagerstown (9-4) is also on the road at Tri-Eastern Conference foe Winchester the same night.
Box Score
NORTHEASTERN (9-1) – Kaleb Mikesell 0 0-0 0, Bailey Stewart 4 2-4 10, Nate Reynolds 2 4-4 8, Harrison Rice 0 0-0 0, DaShawn Hampton 1 2-2 5, Tyler Smith 10 7-10 27, Robert Smith 4 0-0 8, Austin Clay 0 0-0 0, Alec Sheets 0 0-0 0, Jalen Hillard 0 0-0 0, Team – 21 15-20 58.
HAGERSTOWN (9-4) – Mason Stitt 1 2-2 5, Jared Andis 8 4-4 22, Bret Templin 1 2-2 4, Isaiah Neal 3 2-2 8, Nate Combs 3 1-2 7, Evan Hoover 3 0-2 6, Jordan Auker 0 0-0 0. Team – 19 11-14 52.
Northeastern 7 18 32 58
Hagerstown 13 22 34 52
3-pointers – Northeastern 1 (Hampton 1), Hagerstown 3 (Andis 2, Stitt 1). Rebounds – Northeastern 25 (T. Smith 6), Hagerstown 30 (Neal 8, Combs 8). Turnovers – Northeastern 14, Hagerstown 19. Fouls – Northeastern 13, Hagerstown 16.