By Carl Holcomb
Moorefield Examiner
East Hardy corralled and caged the Huskies with an 84-40 victory as the Cougars scored above 80 points for the sixth time this season and extended a five-game winning streak on Thursday.
Gideon Good led the Cougars with 22 points, followed by Evan Hamilton with 21 points (6 – 3’s) and Jordan Teets with 20 points (4 – 3’s).
Northern Garrett (MD) was paced by Devin Mckenzie with eight points and Luke Ross with seven points.
“I thought we started off slow. I don’t know what we shot in the first half, but it wasn’t a very high percentage. We talked about cleaning it up. I know we scored quite a bit by halftime, but we felt we didn’t have a great offensive first half and our defense wasn’t up to par. We came out in the second half a lot cleaner and played more efficient on offense. Once we started doing that, shots were falling and we were getting turnovers. Knowing they didn’t have a lot of size gave us confidence to go inside with Gideon. That was one of the most physical teams we have faced this year. Gideon and Joseph held their own inside and allowed us to get the perimeter shots,” East Hardy coach Chris Hahn remarked.
After a turnover to start the game, East Hardy’s Joseph Price collected a defensive carom and Gideon Good knocked down a jumper at 6:52 to spark a 6-0 run covering over half of the first period.
There were a combined 14 missed field goals during this stretch as the chilly start could have correlated to the frigid temperatures outside with windy conditions.
Good grabbed an offensive rebound and drew a foul leading to one free throw made at 6:03.
The Cougars created the 6-0 edge with a 3-pointer by Evan Hamilton at 3:39.
A steal by East Hardy’s Mason Hamilton led to a missed dunk from Good.
Northern Garrett’s Robert Deatelhauser hit a jumper at 3:12, then Devin Mckenzie hauled in a defensive rebound and found Liam Stewart for a 3-pointer as the Huskies closed the gap to 6-5 at 2:43.
This was the closest the Huskies would get in the contest as the Cougars pounced for a 10-point halftime advantage and slashed to a 56-33 lead entering the final stanza.
Price collected a defensive carom and the Huskies issued their fifth team foul putting him on the line to make a pair of free throws for East Hardy with 1:53 left in the first period, then Northern Garrett answered with a jumper by Caleb Hinebaugh.
Good notched an old-fashioned three-point play for the Cougars with 1:05 to go in the frame.
Evan Hamilton stole the ball and made an offensive rebound leading to a bucket by Good, 13-8.
Jayden McNelly made a three-point play for the Huskies on the ensuing possession with 22 seconds left.
Good scored on a buzzer baating putback for a 15-10 lead to close the first period.
East Hardy’s Evan Hamilton swiped the ball to start the second frame to create a breakaway layup.
Teets stole the ball and nailed a 3-pointer to put the Cougars up 20-10 at 7:31.
McNelly and Mckenzie sandwiched field goals around a jumper from Price for a 22-14 score at 6:43.
Price and Deatelhauser traded field goals over the next minute, then Good added two free throws for a 26-16 lead with 5:15 left in the second period.
The Huskies got a bucket by Cole Fulk, then Good grabbed an offensive carom and drew another foul to add two more markers.
Good sandwiched two blocks around stepping out of bounds coming down with the ball initially after the first block.
Teets recovered the latter block and the ensuing shot went awry, but Good hauled in the rebound and dished to Price for a jumper.
Evan Hamilton stole the ballad dished to Aubrey McCullough for a layup to end the lead to 32-20.
Teets made a jumper with under 20 seconds left in the half, but the Huskies answered with a 3-pointer. From Ross with four seconds on the clock as the Cougars carried a 37-27 lead into halftime.
East Hardy rattled off a 10-0 run in the third period which included 3-pointers by Evan Hamilton and Jordan Teets, plus jumpers by Price and Teets.
Mckenzie created a steal and breakaway layup for the Huskies to stop the run at 3:39.
Teets and Evan Hamilton earned two more perimeter shots in a span of 40 seconds for a 54-30 advantage with 2:19 remaining in the third frame.
After a jumper by Teets with under a minute left, Northern Garrett’s Stewart made a trifecta for a 56-33 score going into the final stanza.
The Cougars kept slashing for a 28-7 advantage in the fourth period to finish with an 84-40 win.
East Hardy’s Gideon Good created a slam dunk off a teammate’s miss for his third field goal of the final stanza.
The Cougars added four more perimeter buckets by Evan Hamilton (2), Mason Hamilton and Jordan Teets in the fourth period.
East Hardy’s Brayden Gregory made three steals late in the fourth period.
Aubrey McCullough stole the ball and dished to Trevor Roof for a layup, then Roof swiped the ball and made another bucket for an 84-38 lead with under a minute to go.
East Hardy finished with the 84-40 win.
In JV action, East Hardy defeated the Huskies 55-34 with Trevor Roof scoring a game-high 19 points for the Cougars.
The Cougars visited Union yesterday and travel to Harman tomorrow before the regular season finale senior night against Frankfort on March 4.
