Wildcats roar back
Behind Abram and Woods, Hammond takes down West Side with fourth-quarter rally
Hammond doesn’t get rattled. Even when it’s trailing one of the best teams in Northwest Indiana by double digits in the third quarter.
The Wildcats’ 63-53 victory against West Side in a Great Lakes Conference game Friday night was the epitome of what an experienced, skilled team can do to its opponent if given the smallest opening.
Hammond (2-1) outscored the Cougars 25-4 in the fourth quarter, getting to them with a ferocious press. Hammond coach Larry Moore Jr. was waiting for just the right time to spring it, and that time came after West Side (3-1) took a 49-38 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Cougars were mostly in control in the first three quarters, lobbing it inside to 6-foot-10 junior Jalen Washington and 6-9 senior Mason Nicholson. Washington finished with nine points, and Nicholson scored 14.
Hammond knew it was time to do something because it was hard to crack West Side’s inside wall.
Reggie Abram, a 5-8 senior guard who finished with 19 points, said this was a game the Wildcats wanted.
Moore told his players this was essentially the conference championship.
Harold Woods led Hammond with 29 points.
“Everybody was raving about them,” Abram said. “They were good on paper. It didn’t look like that (out there). It was a great game. We won. We were the better team.”
Moore said he was leery of pressing early because Quimari Peterson, West Side’s senior point guard, is good at working against pressure.
Moore also lost Darrell Reed, a 6-7 senior, for most of the second quarter after he picked up two fouls.
When the third quarter ended, Moore told his team it was go time.
Abram said the Wildcats had talked about getting five stops in the fourth quarter. That was going to get them back in the game.
It didn’t take long.
The Cougars turned the ball over six times in the fourth quarter. Hammond forced three turnovers in a row at one point.
Woods tied the game at 51-51 with 3:50 left after making a pair of free throws. Hammond scored again to take a 53-51 lead, and then Woods launched a 3-point
er from beyond the top of the key with 2:20 left, making it 56-51. Hammond didn’t look back.
The Wildcats are confident. They lost by a point to Lawrence North, the top-ranked team in Class 4A, on Dec. 5. They have won three straight sectional titles. They know what to do when it’s crunch time.
Woods said the coaches told the team to pick up the pace in the fourth quarter.
“We just needed to play with more energy and push the ball,” Woods said. “I thought we were able to make a lot of big shots there.”
Moore said it was a good night.
“I’m really happy for our guys,” he said. “To beat a really talented team that is No. 1 in the area means something. We are not going to lose too many games this year.”