12/20/2021
BY JACK BULLOCK
BLUFORD - Despite a multitude of problems on Monday night the Hamilton County Foxes leaned on their defense to get a road win.

Coach Doug Miller's club was foul plagued in the first two quarters but they forced turnovers with pressure once they stopped sending Webber Township to the line.

The Trojans shot 14 of their 18 free throws in the first half, which allowed Coach Brad Beaty's team to hang in against the 2A Foxes.

Nevertheless a Hamilton County defensive switch in the second quarter in both the half-court and eventually full-court allowed the Foxes to pull away to a 64-44 victory in their final game until after Christmas when they head to the annual Eldorado Holiday Tournament.

“Our free throw shooting tonight was phenomenal and our defense, at times, was really good but three of our starters wouldn't quit fouling,” said Coach Miller. “Give our bench players credit. I threw a freshman and two sophomores in there tonight and they did a fine job not hurting us for about three or four minutes in the second quarter.”

With 6-8 junior center Wyatt Hamson netting a career-best 21-points to go with 11-rebounds and seven other Hamilton County players adding points, Coach Miller now has a team that is 10-1 on the season.

Six-three senior Jaden York added 13-points for the Foxes while senior Grady and Claven Lueke added nine-points each.

The Trojans were paced by 6-7 junior center Hunter Danberry with 14-points and junior guard Weston Hails tossed in 12.

Junior guard Elijah Marlow (eight) and senior Seth Hamerski (seven) along with junior Aden Reed (three) rounded out the Webber Township scoring.

“They (Hamilton County) are a team that is going to pick you up 84-feet. They play you that '2-2-1' or 'man-to-man' and if you're not patient and reverse the ball then they get you (turnovers),” said Coach Beaty. “Offensively they attack the rim and their big kid (Hamson) went to work tonight. They're a really good team right now and I'm anxious to see what they do down at Eldorado next week.”

It looked as if the Foxes were going to make quick work of Webber Township in the first quarter.

With York scoring seven of his points in the first quarter Hamilton County got to its first double-figure lead in the game.

Hamson scored just once in the first quarter but it turned out to be a big play as he scored on a nice spin move in the lane that coerced Danberry's second personal foul with :53.1 left in the frame.

The three-point play made it 20-7 Foxes.

Webber Township rallied at that point, going on a scoring spree to take a 25-24 lead with 3:53 left in the first half.

With Hamerski, Marlow and Hails all scoring points in the 13-0 run.

A 3-pointer by Hails and two free throws by Reed gave Webber its only lead which lasted less than a minute.

From that point in the first half until the final horn, the Foxes went on a scoring run of their own to head to the Christmas break on a winning note.

Hamson added three more baskets to go with two free throws by York and a bucket from C. Lueke.

The 6-8 Hamson scored on a nice inbounds set play to send the teams to intermission at 34-26.

Uncharacteristically Hamilton County was also turnover prone on Monday night as the Foxes coughed up 19 of them, including 11 in the first two quarters.

But defensively they forced the same amount of miscues (19) including six key ones in the third quarter that turned an eight-point halftime lead into a 50-35 spread at the end of three quarters.

“We changed from a man-to-man press to a zone press because we were fouling too much,” said Coach Miller. “We tried to wear them (Webber) down tonight and in the second half things got better.”

Grady Lueke scored five of his points in the third, including 3-of-4 free throws and a steal and fast break lay in that forced another Webber timeout with 5:12 left in the third quarter.

The Foxes got two more transition scores in the run, one off of a Hamson blocked shot that turned into a York lay up.

Two more scores; a 3-pointer by senior Layton Karcher and shot in the lane by senior Austin Harrelson pushed the Foxes to a 50-31 lead.

Two scores late by Marlow got Webber back to within 15 but that was the end of the rally.

Hamson closed out his night with two more inside baskets and he and his teammates capitalized when they were sent to the foul line.

Coach Miller saw his crew cash in 17-of-20 from the stripe on the night, closing out the contest by making nine-consecutive, six of which were in the fourth.

Another key stat that the Foxes dominated was rebounding.

They owned the boards 32-21, including 11 offensive rebounds.

Shooting the ball, when they weren't turning it over, also was a strong plus on this night as Hamilton County ended up 23-of-45 overall and were 22-of-36 (61.1 percent) inside the 3-point arc.

The Trojans weren't nearly as effective on offense, connecting on just 16-of-44 overall (36.3 percent) which isn't going to win a team many ballgames even at home.

Hamilton County will face Norris City-Omaha-Enfield at 3:15 pm on Monday in the opening round of the 57th annual Eldorado Holiday Tournament.

Webber Township will head right back into a game with Sesser-Valier on Tuesday on the road before taking their Christmas break.

“It's a game that we wanted on our schedule. We knew that they were going to have a good team and that game right there will make you better in February or early March because now we have seen some things that we have got to work on,” said Coach Beaty. “I'm proud of the kids, they played hard but in the third quarter we got a bit tired but Hamilton County will do that to you.”

Hamilton County (64) – Thrane 2 0 1-1 5, G. Lueke 3 0 3-4 9, York 5 0 3-4 13, Hamson 8 0 5-5 21, Harrelson 1 0 0-0 2, C. Lueke 2 0 5-6 9, Karcher 0 1 0-0 3, Eck 0 0 0-0 0, Neal 0 0 0-0 0, Mitchell 1 0 0-0 2, Kelly 0 0 0-0 0, Webb 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-22, 3FG-1, FT-17-20, PF-17.
Webber Township (44) – Hamerski 1 0 5-6 7, Danberry 7 0 0-1 14, Marlow 4 0 0-0 8, W. Hails 3 1 3-5 12, Reed 0 0 3-6 3, K. Hails 0 0 0-0 0, Hargrove 0 0 0-0 0, Fleener 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-15, 3FG-1, FT-11-18, PF-15.
Fouled Out – Reed - Webber Township.
Technical Fouls – None.