With 3:16 to play in the third quarter Saturday night, Hillsboro senior Gaven Pinkley picked up his third foul against Park Hills Central.
The Hawks trailed the Rebels 47-46 in the championship game of the 62nd annual Gene Steighorst Tournament, so instead of Hillsboro head coach Dan Johnson parking Pinkley on the bench to avoid further foul trouble, he left him in the game.
Good move. Pinkley had 22 points at the time of his third foul, and after he completed an old-fashioned 3-point play with 5:55 left in the game, the Hawks had scored 14 straight points and now led Park Hills Central by 10 points.
Pinkley led all scorers with 29 points and Hillsboro (5-0) won its own tournament for the second straight year with a 76-64 victory.
“We got a lot more stops in the second half,” said Pinkley who has yet to commit to play college basketball. “We were passing the ball great and it all started with defense.”
It’s possible the Hawks could play the Rebels (2-2) again twice in the next month as they play in the Park Hills Central Tournament over the Christmas break and then are back together at Hillsboro on Jan. 2.
The Hawks were exposed from perimeter as the Rebels cranked up their 3-point offense at the end of the first quarter. Park Hills Central made 10 treys and was led in scoring by senior Wade Scherffius with 18 points.
“We knew Central had all of those weapons who could hit from deep, and the plan all along was to take away the 3-point line and we finally started doing that in the fourth quarter,” Johnson said. “We were guarding them too aggressively early. That got us over-rotated and out of position which led to open shots.”
Park Hills Central head coach Adam Barton said Scherffius is the heartbeat of his team’s offense.
“Everything goes through him,” Barton said. “Teams key on him and try to keep him out of the lane. We had multiple guys tonight who did some good things. There was a two-minute stretch that got us. The other 30 minutes, I was happy with.
“We gained our composure and dug back in there a little bit but the damage had been done and when you get into an eight- or nine-point hole, there’s not much you can do.”
Pinkley, juniors Michael Brewer and Ben Lampkins and senior Isaiah Martin are all averaging double-figure scoring this season, and that trend continued against the Rebels as Brewer overcame a tough night inside to score 15 points, while Lampkins contributed 16 points and Martin had 11.
“If Michael would have told me he was going to fumble the ball and travel every time he put it on the block, I would have just left him on the 3-point line all night,” Johnson said. “He had a rough game and turned it right around and hit two of the biggest shots of the game.”
During the Hawks’ 14-0 run in the second half, Brewer sank back-to-back 3-point baskets that put Hillsboro on top to stay. Lampkins’ smooth baseline runner put the Hawks up 54-50 with three seconds left in the third.
“When we run our transition and get somebody to the corner and the block and that opens up everything,” Pinkley said.
Hillsboro beat Festus 64-41 on Friday in the semifinals of the tournament with Pinkley leading all scorers (25 points).