Buccaneers second half surge sinks Hampton

Published 11:34 am Friday, March 3, 2023

By Allen LaMountain

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BLOUNTVILLE – As they did in the district final, University High rallied in the second half to knock off the Hampton Bulldogs. History repeated itself on Thursday night in the Region 1A championship as the Buccaneers defeated Hampton 49-45 with another second-half rally.
“We had a lot of good looks that rolled around the rim and didn’t go down,” Bulldogs head coach Ned Smith said. “UH is a very athletic team, well coached and it was a tight game all the way. They made a lot of their shots and we had some roll out.”
In a tightly defended game, the ‘Dogs took a 22-18 halftime lead with junior post Hayden Campbell leading the way with six points. UH (21-12) took an early lead with forward Andrew Cole dropping in a trey and following that with a deuce in the paint for a 5-0 advantage, but the ‘Dogs answered with a bucket from Dylan Trivett.
The first period ended at 9-9 but the ‘Dogs got six points from junior Geno Carrico to help Hampton (25-8) to a three point lead at the break. In the third quarter, the Bucs put on a 9-0 run at the end of the period to take a 32-28 lead going into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, junior Chance Point knocked down a trey from the corner that was answered by A.J. Murphy’s triple. Point struck again as Hampton pulled to within 35-33 at the six minute mark, but once again, UH had an answer with a Cole bucket.
Senior Cadon Buckles was held to just eight points and had a shot in the paint blocked by Pete Boynewicz, who then dropped in a trey that followed Point’s second triple and the Bucs now led 40-36.
“That’s what Pete does,” said Bucs head coach Herman Rice. “He is a solid defender and it is hard to keep Hampton in front of you, so we did a lot of switching off, which led to some mismatches that ended with a blocked shot.”
Hampton once again pulled to within one on a trey from guard Michael Anspaugh but the Bucs got a pair of free throws from Drew Finney and a deuce from Cole and two free throws from Boynewicz to open a 46-39 lead. Campbell scored a deuce for Hampton to make it a 46-41 game with 45.3 seconds left.
Buckles and Boynewicz traded buckets, but with 20.6 seconds remaining Boynewicz hit one-of-two free throws. Trivett scored a layup as the buzzer sounded for the final margin of the contest.
Hampton will travel to Region 2A champion Oneida on Monday in the substate. Cole’s 15 points led all scorers with Boynewicz adding 14 for the Bucs. Anspaugh’s nine points topped Hampton.
Region 1A championship
University High 49-45
Murphy 7, Weems 7, Boynewicz 14, A. Cole 15, Croley 6.
Hampton (45)
Trivett 6, Anspaugh 9, Buckles 8, Campbell 8, Point 8, Carrico 6.
Hampton 9 13 6 17 – 45
University 9 9 14 17 – 49
3-point goals: H 4 (Point 2, Buckles 1, Anspaugh 1), U 4 (Murphy 1, Weems 1, A. Cole 1,
Croley 1).
All tournament team
Cosby – Cruz Coggins
North Greene – Jason Britton, Sam English
Hampton – Cadon Buckles, Chance Point, Hayden Campbell
UH – Brady Weems, Pete Boynewicz, A.J. Murphy
MVP – Andrew Cole

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