Over the last two-plus seasons, the Hillsboro boys basketball team has won 66 games, two Class 4 district championships and ruled as king of the Jefferson County Activities Association large-schools.
But the one thing the Hawks hadn’t done in head coach Dan Johnson’s nine years at the helm – at least until a Friday home game against Windsor – is score 100 points. Before coming to Hillsboro, Johnson coached North County for three seasons and Crystal City for one. None of those teams ever reached the 100-point plateau.
That all changed against the Owls as the Hawks charged out with their revamped starting lineup and shot the lights out of their own gym in a 100-66 conference victory.
With his team playing under the mercy rule with a running clock in the fourth quarter, Johnson had long since replaced his starting five with backups. But when Garrett Pinkley swished a 3-pointer late in the fourth to reach the century mark, the fans erupted as if the game was still on the line.
The Hawks beat the Owls 78-57 in December, but nothing could have prepared Windsor head coach Todd Dutton for the onslaught he witnessed Friday.
“They have a lot of good shooters,” Dutton said. “We played them earlier in the year and it was the same thing. (Michael) Brewer’s a monster inside.”
And senior guard Ben Lampkins can be just as dangerous with the ball anywhere around the 3-point arc. Lampkins lit the lamp five times from downtown in the first half and finished with 20 points. Brewer had just six points at halftime, but he caught up with Lampkins with 20 points and led the Hawks as usual with 10 rebounds.
“When you have to run out to the 3-point line because Ben could have a night where he makes seven or eight (3-pointers), that opens up the inside and obviously we’ve got some really good bigs with Michael and Evan (Worley),” Johnson said. “We caught fire in the first half and it kept going.”
Three seconds into the game, junior guard Ethan Worley scored for the Hawks. Even though it was just the first two points out of 166 scored, it was a crucial moment for the Worleys, who transferred to Hillsboro from Windsor in December.
The Missouri State High School Activities Association quickly approved the transfer and the twins have cemented spots in the starting lineup of the two-time defending district champions. Ethan made the first basket near the stands packed with Windsor fans, who didn’t boo or jeer.
After the game, the Worleys both said their new teachers, coaches and classmates have been very accepting and helpful as they transition to a new school mid-term.
“It was nice to play against guys who we’ve played with most of our lives,” said Evan Worley, who finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and eight blocked shots. “When I went out there, I wanted to have fun. I was a little nervous at first, but once I made a bucket, I was ready.”
Ethan Worley made four of five shots from the field and finished with 10 points.
“This experience was great. I got to play against my best friend, Norman (Alford),” Ethan said. “It was a blast. I thought I would be accepted and everybody had a great attitude. I love the positive attitudes on our team. I didn’t expect anything. I love the people here. The teachers have been so nice.”
It’s not often that a team has four players reach double figures in scoring and still loses with a running clock, but Pierce Hartmann (15 points), Grant Siegel (15), Justin Van Etten (11) and Alford (10) all hit double digits for the Owls, who fell to 9-12 overall and 0-2 in league play. Senior Aaron Harrison scored eight points for Windsor, which had a 14-0 run in the fourth.
After the Hawks ripped off 33 points in the second quarter, Lampkins found Brewer for a patented alley-oop dunk, but Brewer was called for a technical foul for hanging on to the rim. Hartmann sank the two free throws after the foul. Brewer picked up his third foul with 6:32 to play in the third.
Hillsboro was shooting free throws in the double bonus six minutes into the third and junior guard Mark Moore kept up his pursuit of shooting 90 percent from the line for the season by making six of seven. Moore has made 61 of 68 foul shots, which places him at 89.7 percent.
Hillsboro is 17-4 overall and 2-0 in the conference. The Hawks host Seckman tonight (Thursday) and make up a rescheduled game against Festus on Saturday. Hillsboro closes out its conference schedule at Perryville on Feb. 12 and ends the regular season at home against Farmington on Feb. 19.
The Hawks, winners of eight straight games, have beaten the Knights in the last two Class 4 District 2 championship games.
“The seniors can see there’s not a whole lot of games on the schedule, and to watch them on the floor, they keep the focus and energy,” Johnson said.
Surging Blackcats win two
After starting the season 1-9, the Herculaneum boys basketball team has improved to 6-12 and won two games last week.
In a 78-56 win against Bourbon on Jan. 29, junior Jordan Duncan made 4 of 5 3-point baskets to lead the Blackcats with 22 points. Sophomore Josh Moreland scored 12 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter for Herculaneum, which trailed the Warhawks 32-30 at halftime. Senior Blake Leathers was the other Herky player to score in double figures with 13 points. Moreland pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds.
“We started out a little cold, but in the second half played some of our better basketball this year,” Herculaneum head coach Jason Jarvis said. “In the second half we changed some things up defensively and did a great job of attacking the basket.”
In a JCAA small-schools contest against Grandview on Friday night, the Blackcats were knotted 10-10 with the Eagles after the first quarter and led 21-17 at halftime.
“We didn’t look back after halftime,” Jarvis said about his Herculaneum’s 53-43 win against the Eagles, who fell to 3-18 and 0-3 in the conference.
The Blackcats are 1-1 in the small-schools division with three conference games this week against St. Vincent and St. Pius X (on Tuesday and Wednesday after the Leader deadline) and Crystal City on Friday.
Against Grandview, Duncan scored 16 points to go with eight rebounds and six steals. Moreland led the Blackcats with 18 points and grabbed eight boards. Duncan and Moreland both made 4 of 5 free throws.
“We started to play better defense in the second quarter,” Jarvis said. “We were still off on offense, but kept grinding to sustain a lead.”
Tigers win in Perryville
With the rescheduled JCAA large-schools game against Hillsboro looming on Saturday night, the Festus boys basketball team won its third straight game with a 59-44 conference win at Perryville on Friday.
The Tigers held the Pirates to 20 second-half points and improved to 14-6 and 2-1 in the JCAA large-schools with the win. The Hawks lead the conference at 2-0, so Festus could draw even with them with a win Saturday. Chase Brown led the Pirates with 22 points.
“It was one of our more complete efforts as a team,” Festus head coach Jason Therrell said. “We played well defensively in the second half.”
Senior Savez Thomas registered a double-double in points (21) and rebounds (13) for Festus. The points were a season high for Thomas, who was joined by teammates Kobe Branscomb (13 points) and Dabrion Barker (10) in double-figure scoring.
Therrell has had the luxury to swap out starters without losing quality minutes this season. Barker became eligible to play in January and has worked his way into the starting lineup, which rolling toward districts is Thomas, Branscomb, Collin Reando and Cole Rickermann. Branscomb and Reando have started every game. Senior forward Zach Liles is now the first player off the bench.
“That’s a good situation for us. Whoever practices and plays the best gets to play,” Therrell said. “One thing I would compliment this group about is it’s about the team.”
Hillsboro beat Festus 67-51 on New Year’s Eve in the Bob Sechrest Jr. Christmas Tournament in Park Hills. Mark Moore and Michael Brewer scored 22 points each for the Hawks in the victory. Thomas led the Tigers with 14 points in the first meeting.
“I think we’re getting better and we showed some of that against Perryville,” Therrell said. “We need to play good defense and be unselfish with the ball.
“This sounds crazy but it doesn’t change anything for us. We have to focus on what we can do and play to the best of our ability.”
Blue Jays roll to seventh win in a row as districts approach
Playing their old coach in his new gym inspired the Crystal City boys basketball team to push Jefferson for four quarters in Friday night’s JCAA small-schools game.
Sean Breeze left the Hornets last year to take the head coaching job at Jefferson. Breeze is now 2-0 against his former charges after the Blue Jays squeaked out a 67-63 victory on Friday night. As a sign of the Hornets’ improvement under first-year head coach Lee Richardson, Jefferson squashed Crystal 62-34 on Nov. 30.
Breeze was humbled after beating the Hornets on Friday when his former players made a point to congratulate him after the game.
“They’ve gotten better as the season’s gone on and that’s the sign of a good coach,” Breeze said. “The gym was packed and they were fired up from the tip. They were beating us down the floor and getting to the rim. Every time we didn’t close out our defensive rotation they made us pay. I was impressed with their energy level.
“I told the kids after the game they gave us everything we could handle. We had to grind it out a little bit but that’s what you have to do.”
With the regular season grinding to a halt soon -- district seeding meetings are this week -- the Blue Jays are 15-6 and rolling on a seven-game winning streak. Breeze said that’s because his team is playing much better defense.
“And on the offensive side of the ball the kids have done a good job of making the extra pass and looking for the open shot,” Breeze said. “We have a lot of capable players on our team who can give us a spark at any time.”
Two-time JCAA small-schools player of the year Easton Null cracked the whip against the Hornets with a game-high 27 points. Null made 6 of 7 shots from the free-throw line and made his three 3-pointers in the first half.
“He was able to get to the rim and shoot free throws,” Breeze said about the team’s leading scorer who averages 20.7 points per game. “He was all over the court and it was a very good game. He took the shots that were there and wasn’t forcing anything.”
Jon Weik scored 11 points for the Blue Jays, but played the game in foul trouble and finished with four. Keeping Weik on the court is vital for Jefferson if its going to challenge for the Class 3 District 3 title. The Blue Jays are hosting the district tournament.
Breeze said it’s hard to measure what Weik means to the team because he’s so versatile inside and outside.
“When we are struggling it’s the times he’s on the bench in foul trouble,” Breeze said. “When our personnel changes, all of our kids have to step up. He struggled with foul trouble earlier but he’s done a good job at managing that.”
St. Vincent leads the JCAA small-schools with a record of 3-0 and has already beaten Jefferson (3-1) and St. Pius X (2-1). The Blue Jays visit St. Pius on Friday. It’s the second meeting of the season between the teams. The Lancers toppled Jefferson 53-48 in the championship of the Grandview tournament on Dec. 29.
St. Pius plays with tons of confidence in front of their home fans, but the Lancers fell to St. Vincent 57-53 at home on Friday.
“They’re very comfortable at home and they feed off the energy in their gym,” Breeze said. “They’ve had some big wins at home this year. It’s a tough place to go into because it gets noisy in there. They are as hard to beat at home as any team you’ll see.
“They have so many athletes. You can’t let them penetrate on defense. You have to take care of the ball because they’re all so quick. The first game was close and I would anticipate the same kind of game. They really don’t have any weak spots.”
Boyer gets 1,000 career points
De Soto senior Kendall Boyer joined the 1,000-point club on Monday night in Festus.
The Tigers beat the Dragons 65-55 and improved to 17-3 overall and 3-0 among JCAA large-schools. Boyer notched the game’s first basket to top 1,000 career points and led all scorers with 20 points.
Festus can secure its fourth straight conference title with a win against Perryville. The Tigers were supposed to play the Pirates last Friday, but because of bad weather, the game was rescheduled for Feb. 13 at Festus.
Guards Abby Rickermann and Jenna Oetting led Festus with 18 points each against De Soto (11-9, 1-2). Center Abby McMillin added 10 points for the Tigers and junior Bria Garmon dished out six assists and had four steals.
The Tigers had a season-low four turnovers and made 17 of 19 shots (89 percent) from the free-throw line.