Hammond Blues
Wildcats, poised to win their first regional title since 1954, falls in OT
Hammond’s Harold Woods understandably struggled to contain his emotions Saturday night.
The senior guard tried to process the Wildcats’ 79-71 overtime loss to South Bend St. Joseph in the Class 3A South Bend Washington Regional championship game.
It didn’t quite make sense. Building a 14-point lead in the second quarter, rallying from a nine-point deficit in the fourth to head to OT, only to drop a gut-wrenching decision in the final season before the district’s four high schools consolidate into two.
“It was helping us along,” Woods said of the community support. “But we felt like we let a lot of people down. I feel like we should’ve gone all the all way. But good luck to them the rest of the way.”
It appeared Hammond (18-2) was poised to win its first regional title since 1954 before St. Joseph (21-4) turned the tide to advance to the semistate level for the first time since 1993.
St. Joseph scored the first five points of overtime, and Hammond twice closed to within three points.
Senior forward Darrell Reed felt the difference.
“We had to come together and
fight,” he said. “That’s what we needed to do. We tried. We played hard.”
Woods finished with 23 points. Reed added 20 points and sophomore guard Jordan Woods had 17.
Hammond — which was without senior guard Reggie Abram for all four of its postseason games because of a sprained left ankle — was clicking on all cylinders and led 34-20 late in the first half.
But St. Joseph climbed back into the game in the second half.
“The third quarter was tough,” Harold Woods said. “We didn’t play our game. We came out stagnant. We didn’t stick with our defense and we gave up too many offensive rebounds.
“They had more energy than us. They played harder.”
St. Joseph scored the first 10 points of the third to close to 36-33 before Woods knocked down a 3-pointer midway through the quarter.
At 39-37, Julius Byrd answered with a 3-pointer. And at 42-39, Trent Askew made one with a minute left.
But St. Joseph scored the first five points of the fourth to take a 46-45 edge before Woods scored.
Still, St. Joseph reeled off 10 straight points to lead 56-47 with 5:05 remaining in the quarter.
Hammond chipped away and tied the score at 63-63 on Vynce Overshawn’s 3-point play with 1:16 left. The Wildcats missed a potential game-winning shot as
time expired.
“We missed a lot of easy shots,” Harold Woods said of OT. “We had a good shot at the end (of regulation). The ball just didn’t fall our way.
“We just didn’t want our season to end.”
JR Konieczny, a Notre Dame recruit, had 24 points for St. Joseph. Will Terry added 21 points — including 10 in the third quarter after scoring four in the first half — and Jack Futa had 17.
Hammond was ranked No.
1 in Associated Press Class 3A state poll and No. 6 in the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association poll.
After a season-opening loss to Lawrence North, the Wildcats won 18 straight games — including 51-34 against New Prairie in Saturday’s semifinals — before falling to St. Joseph, which was No. 5 in the AP poll.
“We had a good season,” Harold Woods said. “We just had to step up. We tried our best. But it wasn’t enough.”