11-26-12
BY JACK BULLOCK
HARRISBURG – For the boy's basketball programs in both Harrisburg and Gallatin County, the 2012-13 season is like a Charles Dickens' novel.

In both camps there are “Great Expectations.”

Monday night didn't diminish either club's aspirations.

In the second game of the Harrisburg Bulldog Invitational Tournament, the hosts used a big fourth quarter push to outrun the Hawks to the finish line, 59-42, to open their season and tournament run at 1-0 in front of a large crowd at Davenport Gym.

The big story was the play of senior guard Tyler Smithpeters.

With most of his teammates still showing the effects of a long football season just completed, Smithpeters gave his club the offensive push it needed to pick up the opening night victory.

The 6-foot-4 four-year varsity player scored 25-points, which included a pair of big 3-point shots in the second half as the Bulldogs pulled away from Gallatin County.

On the Hawks side of the floor, 7-foot senior center Andrew Drone didn't disappoint.

The Division I signee with Rice University scored 22-points and grabbed seven rebounds in the loss.

“I thought tonight went about as well as we could hope for. We knew coming in with just five practices that we weren't prepared to do a lot of things. We were worried about conditioning and I think that was a factor perhaps as much on the shooting end as it was on the defensive end,” said Coach Smithpeters. “Gallatin is a good team. They are a tough team with Drone. You have to put a lot of weight on him to try and contain him which you're not going to. That opens up a lot of other people.”

Coach Robert “Radar” Patton saw his team simply run out of gas late as the Hawks began their season with a loss.

Harrisburg, with its deeper bench and athleticism, outscored Gallatin County 21-9 in the fourth quarter to pick up the win, due in part by six turnovers in the final stanza by the Hawks.

The Bulldogs' defensive effort to open the last quarter gave Coach Smithpeters' club a 7-0 run to turn a 38-33 advantage into a double-digit lead.

Gallatin County turned the ball over the first three possessions in that crucial time frame and Harrisburg's Ryne Roper nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to start the run.

A rebound basket by Justin Younger and a pair of free throws by Smithpeters pushed the lead to 45-33 with 6:45 to go.

“No question we (tentative) tonight, we were playing Harrisburg and they have been these guy's nemesis' since junior high,” said Coach Patton. “They (Harrisburg) beat them a couple of times pretty bad. We came out a little tight.”

Gallatin County got part of that spread back with senior Wes McGuire scoring five points on a 3-pointer and another score in the lane.

However Harrisburg finished off the Hawks with a 12-2 sprint in the final 2:45 before the coaches' cleared the benches.

Gallatin County, to its credit, played with the ABV 2A Preseason number one team in the first three quarters.

Drone proved to be troublesome for the Bulldogs in close to the basket.

He hit a pair of shots in a low scoring first quarter.

His second score on a pass from teammate Patrick Lowe gave the Hawks a 6-4 advantage.

Eli Taborn-Scott scored on a drive to the basket to close out the first frame.

Drone got loose for a pair of scores in the early part of the second quarter.

He came across the lane for a nice hook shot that found the mark and his spin move on the right blocks turned into a two-handed dunk and a 10-6 Hawks' advantage with 4:46 to go.

Gallatin County guard Daine Hish hit his only shot of the night, a 3-pointer from the right corner, to make it 15-11 Hawks with just 1:37 left before the half.

At this point, Harrisburg made its first run.

Smithpeters hit a long 3-point shot from the right wing and then seconds later he came up with a steal and his fast break lay in gave the Bulldogs back the lead for keeps.

Capel Henshaw, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, closed out the run by hitting a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to send the teams to the locker at 19-15.

After a sluggish first half both teams got a better feel offensively in the final 16-minutes after combining to shoot just 13-of-41 from the field.

One of the big plays of the contest happened with 3:53 left in the third quarter.

Smithpeters came up with a loose ball on the offensive end and launched a 3-pointer which found the mark as he was fouled by Gallatin County's Anthony Sorto.

Smithpeters converted the free throw for a four-point play and a 31-23 lead.

“We had taken care of the ball pretty well up until then and that was a big play in the game,” said Coach Patton. “We let them have too many offensive rebounds. And that was the ballgame right there. It was the first game and we will work on that.”

Drone scored 12 of his 22-points in the third quarter.

His spin move in the paint from the right side turned into another two-handed jam which closed the Hawks' deficit to just 36-33 with :36 remaining in the quarter.

“He doesn't get much credit around here but he (Drone) played well,” added Coach Patton. “The big kid played well.”

Two Taborn-Scott free throws closed the third quarter and set the stage for the Bulldogs victory march.

Following Smithpeters, who was honored before the contest for him passing 1,000-points in his career at the end of last season, on the scoring chart was Henshaw.

Henshaw connected three times from long range and ended up with 17-points.

Roper added seven points while Taborn-Scott and senior Gabe Oglesby added four points each.

For Gallatin County, Drone got help from McGuire with seven and Patrick Lowe with six.

The Hawks hit just 2-of-10 free throws in the contest and ended up with 17-turnovers.
Harrisburg, after committing six turnovers in the first quarter, finished with 11 miscues.

The Bulldogs were 20-of-47 from the floor after a cold start and were 6-of-16 from behind the arc and held a 30-16 rebounding edge. They converted 13-of-19 free throws.

Gallatin County connected on 19-of-40 from the floor, 2-of-6 in 3-point attempts.

“We played seven kids and they played nine or ten players so depth was a factor. But I thought we stood toe-to-toe with them for four quarters,” finalized Coach Patton. “They ended up beating us 17 but with 2:30 left it was a seven point game.”

Both teams head back into action on Wednesday night at the Bulldog Invite.

Gallatin County will play Carmi-White County at 6 pm which will be followed by the host Bulldogs playing against Hamilton County.

“I'm happy with the effort and we knew we wanted to be patient. I use the term 'rusty' but I didn't want turnovers to be a factor in us losing. We wanted to defend hard and I think for the most part we did that. I'm happy with the win. We respect Gallatin County and appreciate Radar (Coach Patton) for coming to our tournament,” finalized Coach Smithpeters. “You have to respect a program who will step up and face a challenge. Instead of going someplace (tournament) and winning five games by 20-points, they decided to come here to try and make themselves better. I respect programs that think that way.”

Gallatin County (42) – Sorto 1 0 0-1 2, Hish 0 1 0-0 3, Lowe 2 0 2-2 6, W. McGuire 2 1 0-2 7, Drone 2 1 0-2 7, Drone 11 0 0-4 22, Ramsey 0 0 0-1 0, H. Oldham 0 0 0-0 0, Russell 1 0 0-0 2, Z. McGuire 0 0 0-0 0, Jackson 0 0 0-0 0, York 0 0 0-0 0, Clark 0 0 0-0 0, Scates 0 0 0-0 0, T. Oldham 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-17, 3FG-2, FT-2-10, PF-17.
Harrisburg (59) – Hartley 0 0 0-0 0, Bartok 0 0 0-0 0, Smithpeters 5 2 9-13 25, Younger 1 0 0-0 2, Lewis 0 0 0-0 0, Henshaw 3 3 2-2 17, Roper 2 1 0-0 7, Goldman 0 0 0-0 0, Amaya 0 0 0-0 0, Bjornsson 0 0 0-2 0, Taborn-Scott 1 0 2-2 4, Oglesby 2 0 0-0 4, Simerly 0 0 0-0 0, Batts 0 0 0-0 0, Upchurch 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-14, 3FG-6, FT-13-19, PF-16.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Five-foot-nine senior guard Nathan Anselment led a balanced attack with 11-points, which included a big 3-pointer in the final frame.

Logan Billington added 10-points while Levi Lueke chipped in nine.
Carmi-White County (0-1) got 16-points from junior guard Brodie Brown and 15-points from Jamey Steed in the loss.

Carmi-White County (45) – Vaughn 1 0 2-4 4, Rankin 0 0 0-0 0, Brown 2 4 0-0 16, Steed 3 3 0-0 15, Gross 1 0 0-0 2, Vaught 0 0 0-0 0, Large 4 0 0-2 8, Matz 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-11, 3FG-7, FT-2-4, PF-18.
Hamilton County (51) – Billington 3 0 4-6 10, Cross 0 0 0-0 0, Lueke 3 1 0-3 9, Anselment 4 1 0-1 11, Biggerstaff 3 0 2-2 8, Steele 0 0 0-0 0, Scattone 0 0 1-2 1, Gay 2 0 1-5 5, Stevens 2 0 3-8 7.
2FG-17, 3FG-2, FT-11-27, PF-7.
Fouled Out – Steed, Carmi-White County.
Technical Fouls – None.