Hamilton Heights' Samto Cyril clears a rebound Wednesday night during a game against East Hamilton. The Hawks rallied past the Canes, 61-53, on the East Hamilton gym floor.
photo by Joseph Dycus
Hamilton Heights’ sharpshooter stood from a distance that would have set him behind the NBA line, but that was of no matter to the sniper who had previously hit seven triples from all over the court. Bryson Andrews’ final three put his team up by multiple scores and silenced the once-raucous Hurricane (crowd), the kind of shot commonly described as a dagger.
But in Hamilton Heights 61-53 victorious skirmish against the home team, his shot was more like the final chamber being emptied in what was a two hour-long gunfight.
It featured double-digit leads and rallies by both teams, and up until Andrews’ shot, the game was still undecided.
“On that last shot, I caught it deep and coach just said, ‘shoot it, shoot it, shoot it’ and he just told me to shoot it,” Andrews said. “I have a green light all the time.”
It was a three-point shootout from the start, with the lanky Cade Pendleton and guard Ashton Munson providing much of the scoring. Pendleton gave the imposing Samto Cyril everything he could handle on the offensive end and spaced the floor for the rest of his teammates. Samto came into the game averaging five blocks in under 20 minutes per game, but he was relatively quiet under the rim for much of the night.
Meanwhile Andrews nailed four triples, while wing Jordann Dumont cashed in a couple as neither team could seemingly miss from downtown. But by the second quarter, Munson and company jumped out to a double-digit lead behind even more hot shooting. Pendleton slashed that lead to 27-21 with back-to-back bombs from the parking lot. A delirious student section decked out in all-white celebrated a tie game after Munson poured in two off-the-dribble threes to knot the score at 27 apiece going into halftime.
“Our coach just told us to lock in and get some stops, and to come to me to get shots,” Andrews said.
Cyril finally got a dunk to go down in the third quarter after several impressive misses earlier in the game. Neither team could gain separation from one another in a quarter that ended with East Hamilton up 40-39. Pendleton would hit a hook shot or a tip in, and then a player like Aries Hull would get a shot over a tough defender such as Jaxon Flemmons or Zachariah Laboo.
The fourth was a story of two mini-halves. The first was a Hurricane party. Munson hit a triple and a pullup two from just inside the arc, and then Laboo rolled to the rim and caught a slick pass for a layup. One more Munson triple gave East Hamilton a 50-41 lead going into the six minute mark.
That’s when East Hamilton woke up and went on a 20-3 run to end the game. Camp Patterson and Cam Andrews both had a few buckets, and Bryson Andrews had the aforementioned dagger. But it was Dumont who was the leading scorer in the frame with eight points.
Cyril punctuated their rally with a steal and dunk so athletic he was able to hang from the rim with his elbow, and from there Hamilton Heights never really looked back. It was a spirited effort from the Hurricanes though, who competed until the final buzzer sounded.
BOYS SUMMARY
HAMILTON HEIGHTS 22 05 12 22 – 61
EAST HAMILTON 15 12 13 13 – 53
HAMILTON HEIGHTS (61) – C Andrews 4, Patterson 9, Cyril 4, Jordann Dumont 18, Slavik, Hull 2, Bryson Andrews 24
EAST HAMILTON (53) – Flemmons 3, Bullard, Cade Pendleton 22, Mason 3, Ashton Munson 16, Zachariah Laboo 9
3-POINT GOALS: Hamilton Heights 11 (B. Andrews 8, Dumont 2, Patterson 1); East Hamilton 10 (Pendleton 5, Munson 4, Flemmons 1).
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