Hagerstown Head Coach Bobby Jones draws a play during a timeout on Tuesday, Feb. 20.
HAGERSTOWN, Ind. – It took seven straight wins in the Tri-Eastern Conference, but the Hagerstown boys basketball team was able to grab a piece of the title on Tuesday night.
“It’s not easy to do,” Hagerstown Head Coach Bobby Jones said. “This is our second TEC in 10 years, which is a credit to our kids and the program we have built.”
The Tigers defeated Tri High 57-46 on Tuesday to earn a share of the championship with Union County.
Overall, it is the fifth TEC title for Hagerstown and first since 2013. The Tigers also won in 1990, 1995 and 1997.
The Tigers (15-6, 7-1) dropped their league opener at Union County (16-6, 7-1) back in December, while the Patriots fell at Northeastern earlier this month.
On Tuesday, the Tigers came to life against the Titans with defense.
“We felt at halftime that we had not given our best effort defensively,” Jones said.
The Titans were up 14-11 after the first period and then the contest was tied 27-27 at the intermission.
“They we’re getting lay-ups and we were missing shots,” Jones said. “It seemed like when we were able to get the ball to Jalen (Oliver), he was able to create a little bit.”
Oliver finished with game-high totals of 18 points and 16 rebounds as he and Trent Weiss and Drew Pyle were honored on Senior Night.
“They’re a tough team,” Tri High Head Coach Matt Lacy said. “They have a good player in there. We were playing good defense, probably the best we’ve played all year. The guys stepped it up and played a lit bit harder.”
Hagerstown’s defense in the second half picked up its offense as the Tigers were able to build a 46-35 advantage after the third quarter.
“Our defensive effort and our defensive intensity was much better,” Jones said. “We were able to wear them down a little bit and get them flat-footed on defense.”
Oliver was the only double-digit scorer for the Tigers, but Weiss, Pyle, Noah Dale and Cody Swimm all finished with eight points. Dale and Pyle also grabbed seven rebounds apiece.
Masen Phelps scored 15 points to lead the Titans (7-13, 1-7).
“I thought they played hard all the way,” Lacy said. “We’re getting close. We got better.”
Elijah Davis tossed in seven points to go with six rebounds. Kyler Burchett and Alex Melton contributed six points each. Drew Mondrush had six rebounds.
The Titans did win the JV affair 46-41 as Evan Murphy scored eight points to lead the way. Jimmy Jeffries, Clayton Becker and Parker Engle all tossed in seven points.
For the Tigers, Collin Romack had a game-high 22 points and Dominic Anderson added eight points.
Both teams finish the regular season on Friday night.
Hagerstown travels to Eastern Hancock (16-5), while the Titans entertain Morristown (20-2), which is the fourth-ranked team in Class 1A.