Raiders fall to Archbishop Hannan
Published 9:15 am Monday, February 9, 2015
Pine’s Raiders suffered a 65-51 setback to Archbishop Hannan, as the Hawks pulled away late in a District 8-2A contest held Tuesday at Pine.
Hannan, which led for most of the game, had a 51-43 lead trimmed to 51-45 after Jordan Phelps’ tip in, with 4:52 left.
But the Hawks came through in the clutch, knocking down their free throws and capping off the game by scoring 14 of the final 20 points.
Hannan made 12-of-16 free throws (75 percent) over the final 4:52 for the win.
Tuesday’s game was closer than the score indicated.
Hannan led, 13-12, after the first quarter.
Pine went in front at the outset of the second when Phelps hit Trey Cooper for two on the first possession.
Hannan scored six in a row. Brooks Murrell hit for two before he connected with Noah Griffin to make it 17-14. Then Griffin made a steal in the backcourt and hit for two. It was 19-14 with 6:08 left.
Right after Griffin’s layup, Cooper nailed a three to get it back to a two-point game.
Hannan pushed the lead to 30-23 late in the first half, but Hunter Cooper trimmed it to four with a 3-pointer from the left corner with a second remaining.
The Hawks led, 30-26, at halftime. Hannan got its lead to 42-34 with 1:14 to go in the third quarter.
Pine trimmed the lead to six heading to the fourth period at 44-38.
The Raiders closed the gap to 45-43 with 6:48 left in the contest, but Hannan continued to make buckets after the Raiders got closer.
The Hawks scored six straight, as Daniel Hollander hit a pair of field goals for the first four points and then Griffin found Nick Daniel for two. Hannan led, 51-43, with 5:19 left.
Pine trimmed it to 51-45, but the Hawks finished the game strong in the 65-51 win.
Raiders coach Eddie Vaughn said after Tuesday’s contest that he thought this was a great ballgame
“Hannan’s an outstanding basketball team right now,” Vaughn said. “They’re the best basketball team in our district and playing good basketball. They’ve got lots of kids, so they can keep running people at you. They’ve got outstanding size. They’ve got some skill kids. It was still a good game. In a game like that, you tell the kids that the score is distorted. That’s a six-point ballgame, eight-point ballgame, and all of a sudden you get beat by over 10. But you have to foul. You have to shoot quick and it either goes in or it doesn’t go in. Overall, I was pretty pleased with it. I think that effort could really help us in the next couple of ballgames.”
The loss made Pine’s record 12-14 overall and 1-4 in district play at press time.
Hunter Cooper led Pine in scoring with 19 points. He knocked down five 3-pointers.
Phelps finished with 14 while Trey Cooper had seven. Jamie Adcox put up six points. Ty Galloway had three and Jerron Hughes added two.
The Raiders hosted Northlake Christian School’s Wolverines Friday. Pine closes out the regular season this week by hosting Mt. Hermon Tuesday and traveling to Pope John Paul II Friday.
The win put Hannan at 19-5 overall and 6-0 in league play.
Griffin and Patrick Bossetta both had 15 for the Hawks. Murrell and Ross Murray scored 10 each while Hollander posted seven. Daniel finished with four, and Patrick Donnelly and Jonathan Sigler both added two.