East Hamilton’s DaVae Hughley and Baylor’s Boris Ristanovic contest a rebound.
photo by M. A. Locke
East Hamilton beat Baylor in the season-opening basketball game in the Hurricanes gym back in November.
The Red Raiders were able to return the favor in a steamy Jimmy Duke Arena on Baylor’s campus Tuesday night, but the second game wasn’t as close as the first one.
Baylor improves to 6-2 with the 65-51 non-district game while the Hurricanes fall to 12-4 overall.
“That was a good basketball game played in front of a great atmosphere,” said veteran Baylor coach Austin Clark moments after the final horn sounded.
“We knew that tonight’s game would be a tremendous challenge. I thought we did a heck of a job playing man-to-man defense for the entire 32 minutes. I’ve been at Baylor for 35 years and we’ve never done that before.
“We have a young team with no seniors, so we’re still learning, but East Hamilton brought a huge challenge for us and we responded very well. I’m really proud of these guys as a lot of our kids contributed and gave us a great team effort,” Clark nodded.
Baylor’s Jaylon Baker scored on a layup at the 6:55 mark of the first quarter before DaVae Hughley scored on a putback a minute later to knot the score at 2-2.
The Red Raiders then got consecutive buckets from Niko Simpkins, Patrick Urey and Lorenzo White for an 8-2 Baylor lead and that six-point spread was the difference at 12-6 when the first quarter ended.
Boris Ristanovic canned a 3 to give Baylor a 17-10 lead 100 seconds into the second stanza before the Hurricanes responded with seven straight points – a 3 from Vandrele Wilson and 2s from Noah Fager and Hughley to tie things at 17-17.
Another 3 by East Hamilton’s Wilson with 2:29 left before the half tied the score for the last time at 20-20 before Baylor finished the half on a 12-2 run for a 10-point lead at intermission.
The Hurricanes were forced to play from behind the rest of the game.
Baylor’s biggest lead of 15 points happened twice in the final quarter, the last time with 5:08 to play when Simpkins scored on a layup.
The Hurricanes made their final run, scoring eight straight points to get within seven at 54-47 with 3:33 left, but Baylor did an excellent job of milking time off the clock and East Hamilton never got any closer.
“Baylor did an outstanding job and they deserve all the credit, but we just didn’t have any energy tonight,” said East Hamilton coach Rodney English.
“We rely on our energy to create a lot of points, but we just didn’t have it tonight. We were hoping to get Baylor out of their comfort zone, but we spotted them that 10-point lead early and it was tough to come back after that.
“We could have attacked more, but I’m really disappointed with our effort tonight. We just have to put this one behind us in a hurry because we have a big district game with McMinn County on Friday. That is the one that really counts,” he added.
Beyaun Hendricks scored 13 points to lead the Baylor attack while Baker was next with 12 and Tre Jackson with 10.
Wilson had 13 points to lead the Hurricanes while Hughley followed with 12. Justin Dozier finished with nine points while Fager had eight.
The Hurricanes won the rebound battle by an unofficial 28-21 margin as Hughley grabbed eight. Cam Montgomery and Fager snagged five apiece. Simpkins had seven to lead Baylor while Patrick Urey had five.
While East Hamilton will host McMinn Co. on Friday, Baylor will head to Nashville for a big region game against Brentwood Academy.
EAST HAMILTON GIRLS 45, BAYLOR 41 (OT): Baylor won the first half while East Hamilton won the second half, including the extra four-minute overtime segment by a 7-3 margin.
Baylor’s Grace Warteberg scored eight straight points in the fourth quarter to give the Lady Red Raiders a 36-33 lead with 1:46 left in regulation, but a putback from Elizabeth Laboo knotted the score at 36 with 46 seconds to play.
A steal and layup from Unity Wood allowed the Lady Hurricanes to take the lead before JuToreyia Willis forced overtime on a putback with 2.7 seconds left.
An inbounds violation by East Hamilton game Baylor a chance to win with possession under its on bucket, but that last-second shot never materialized.
Mya Long sank two free throws 52 seconds into the overtime period before the Lady Hurricanes settled the matter with six straight points, including two from Malugh Moon and four from Dezah Lacy.
Madison Hayes scored 13 points to lead the winners while Moon had a dozen and Lacy nine. Long was tops for Baylor with 21 while Wardeberg had 13 and Willis seven.
GIRLS SUMMARY
EAST HAMILTON 5 10 8 15 7 -- 45
BAYLOR 10 11 5 12 3 -- 41
EAST HAMILTON (45) – Moon 12, Lacy 9, Wood 2, Scott, Hayes 13, Gray, Zeh 5, Laboo 6.
BAYLOR (41) – Willis 7, Lindsey, Camp, Conley, Wardeberg 13, Long 21, Keller, McKnight, Rich.
3-POINT GOALS: East Hamilton 3 (Moon 2, Zeh); Baylor 6 (Willis, Wardeberg 3, Long 2).
BOYS SUMMARY
EAST HAMILTON 6 16 13 16 -- 51
BAYLOR 12 20 14 19 -- 65
EAST HAMILTON (51) – Wilson 13, Williams, Montgomery 7, Rogers, Hughley 12, Randolph, Fager 8, Dozier 9, Wingard 2, Schramm.
BAYLOR (65) – Baker 12, Jackson 10, Hendricks 13, White 4, Ristanovic 5, Urey 8, Pippenger 6, Simpkins 7.
3-POINT GOALS: East Hamilton 4 (Wilson 3, Dozier); Baylor 6 (Jackson 2, Hendricks 2, Ristanovic, Pippenger.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)