Wilson, Hurricanes Pull Out 58-55 Win Against Baylor

Guard Hits Go-Ahead 3-Pointer With 15 Seconds Left

  • Friday, December 2, 2016
  • Larry Fleming

From deep in the left corner, East Hamilton guard Vandrele Wilson, a 5-foot-7 junior, let fly with a 3-point shot, came back to the ground and stood concrete-still while watching the basketball hit nothing but net.

As soon as the ball left his hand, Wilson was sure it was golden.

The clutch 3-pointer gave East Hamilton a 56-55 lead over Baylor with 15 seconds remaining and the once-beaten Hurricanes got a turnover on the ensuing inbounds play and pulled out a 58-55 victory over the Red Raiders, who were making their 2016-17 debut.

“I try to shoot all my shots with high confidence so I’ll know it’s going in,” Wilson said. “When I took the shot, I knew it was going in. It felt amazing.”

For several minutes of the fourth quarter, Wilson was sitting on the sidelines with Hurricanes coach Rodney English.

The little guard was itching to get back on the court.

“I had him off the court a long time,” English said. “What I told him was, ‘I need your legs (fresh) because if you hit one or two big 3s for us we’ll win the game.’

“He kept tugging on my shirt, saying, ‘Coach, I’m ready. I’m ready.’ I said, ‘Be patient; get your legs back because I know you have to hit a shot or two.’ I just knew it.”

Wilson finished with nine points, draining one 3-pointer in the first, second and fourth quarters.

“That was a huge shot,” Baylor coach Austin Clark said of Wilson’s clutch bomb with a defender coming right at him. “I thought our effort was good, but we had some people playing in the wrong positions and couldn’t really execute anything like we normally do. Hopefully, we’ll grow from this and get better. I’m excited about this team and think we’ll be fine.”

DaVae Hughley paced the Hurricanes (4-1) with 19 points and Justin Dozier added 11.

Patrick Urey scored 18 points to lead Baylor and Beyuan Hendricks tossed in 11.

In the night’s first varsity game, the Baylor Lady Raiders edged the Lady Hurricanes 39-33 behind Mya Long’s game-high 23 points.

After Wilson’s dagger, English quickly called a timeout.

“The boys were jumping up and down like the fans,” English said. “I said, ‘We’re not out of this thing yet.’ We just had the exact same thing happen at Hardin Valley (Thursday night). I said, ‘We need to play solid defense because they’re going to come right back at us.

“As they were walking out of the huddle, I said to Justin, ‘Make a play for me.’ He said, ‘I got you coach.’ ”    

Dozier forced a turnover on Baylor’s inbounds pass and sophomore guard Cameron Montgomery was fouled. He made both free throws with 10.6 seconds on the clock to give the Hurricanes a three-point lead.

Baylor tried to rush the ball down court for a last-second desperation shot, but Dozier got another turnover and was fouled with 1.5 seconds showing. He missed the first of a one-and-one and the game ended.

“I’m telling you, we’re not there yet but we’re different because our guys have matured,” English said. “I knew when these guys were juniors we would start turning it around a little bit. They’ve all bought in; they all understand and they all play selfless basketball. That’s what we did tonight.”

East Hamilton’s lone loss was a 74-67 decision at White County (74-67) on Nov. 22.

The game was close from start to finish.

East Hamilton’s largest lead was five points at 27-22 Wilson hit a 3 and Hughley scored off a lob pass from Dozier with 3:18 left in the second period.

Baylor’s biggest margin was also five points at 16-11 with less than a minute remaining in the opening quarter.

Baylor’s Urey converted a three-point play and Serbian-born Boris Ristanovic scored on a put-back for a 34-30 Red Raider lead early in the third.

The Raiders’ Jaylon Baker drove the lane for a layup for a 44-40 lead with 27.4 seconds left in the quarter, but Hughley’s put-back closed the gap to 44-42 heading into the final period.

East Hamilton’s Josh Rogers hit a 3 – his only points in the game – to start the fourth, but Urey and Ristanovic made back-to-back layups and Baylor went out front 49-45.

With the Red Raiders up 51-47 at the 4:33 mark, Hughley, a 6-4 forward, got inside for two straight layups and the Hurricanes tied the game at 51-all.

Tre Jackson hit a layup and tipped in a Hendricks miss and Baylor stretched the margin to 55-51.

Hughley dropped in another layup with 75 seconds left.

After Hendricks’ shot was off the mark, Wilson canned his crucial shot just in front of the sizable Baylor student cheering section to trigger the Hurricanes’ decisive five-point surge.

“Baylor’s tough,” English said. “They’re huge; they’re really good and they run their stuff really well. They did a really good job considering this is their first game. I just think we were able to make plays when they counted. That’s surely a sign of maturity for our players.”

When the girls’ game got down to nitty-gritty time, Long took over. She scored 15 second-half points and nine in the fourth quarter as the Lady Red Raiders pulled ahead.

Long, the cousin of Ooltewah High softball standout Kayla Boseman, made all four of Baylor’s 3-point shots.

Freshman Madison Hayes, a 5-11 forward, led East Hamilton with 15 points and 5-8 forward Carli Zeh added 13 points, 10 coming in the second half.

Linescores

Boys Game

Baylor                         16 13 15 11 – 55

East Hamilton           14 16 12 16 – 58

Baylor (55) – Baker 6, Jackson 4, Beyuan Hendricks 11, White 3, B. Harris, Ristanovic 6, Patrick Urey 18, Simpkins 7.

East Hamilton (58) -- Wilson 9, Williams, Montgomery 9, DaVae Hughley 19, Ball, Noah Fager 2, Justin Dozier 11, Randolph 2, Wingard 3, Rogers 3.

3-Point Goals – Baylor 2 (Hendricks 1, White 1), East Hamilton 4 (Wilson 3, Rogers 1) .

Girls Game

Baylor                                    10 7 6 16 – 39  

East Hamilton                       9 2 11 11 – 33

Baylor (39) – Willis 6, Lindsey 3, Parker, Conley 3, Wardenburg 2, Mya Long 23, Keller, McKnight, Rich.

East Hamilton (33) – Moon, Lacy 4, Wood 1, Madison Hayes 15, Scott, Gray, Carli Zeh, Laboo.

3-Point Goals – Baylor 4 (Long 4), East Hamilton 3 (Zeh 2, Lacy 1, Hayes 1).

(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming 44)

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