Freshman Wolves rout Conway White
PEARCY — Led by Ty Robinson’s 30-point performance, Lake Hamilton’s freshmen remained undefeated Thursday night at Wolf Arena, coasting to a 58-39 win over Conway White.
Lake Hamilton (12-0) held a 38-14 lead coming out of the break, but the junior Wampus Cats (10-4) opened the second half with a 6-0 spurt.
“The first half, we controlled the tempo, and we were able to get a lot of shots off our sets … just in the flow of the game,” said freshmen Wolves head coach Bobby Tedder. “And defensively, we contained their drive. We went at them until one-and-done, and in the second half we let them get into the paint a little bit more. … We struggled a little bit in the second half shooting the ball, but we just kept going at it and just kind of maintained that lead that we had at halftime. We couldn’t ever really build on it but we maintained it, and it just takes all of them.”
Ben Chandler and Ian Booy each scored off of steals for the junior Wampus Cats. Jaylen Carter broke the run with a
3-pointer off an assist from Ty Robinson as both teams traded scores early in.
Carter returned the favor to Robinson with just under 3 minutes left in the quarter, and Carter added another 3 points
30 seconds later with a 3-point play to push out to a 20-point lead. The junior Wolves’ drive continued as LeBraun Christon took a steal all the way for a one-handed layup before Robinson nailed a 10-foot jumper to take a 50-27 lead into the final six minutes.
Markeese Lockhart put the junior Wampus Cats on the board to start the fourth with a pull-up 3-pointer on the first possession. Chandler added another bucket off the drive on the team’s next trip down before Robinson came off a screen to drain his fifth trey on the night for a 53-32 edge with four minutes to go.
Jacorey Mosley answered for Conway White with an inside shot, and shortly after Jackson nailed his second trey in the game, though it was not enough for the team to overtake the junior Wolves.
Conway White head coach Joey Moon said after the game that while he does not think his team is a “bad team,” Lake Hamilton is “just a really good team,” and he has the utmost respect for Tedder and his players.
“I mean, you say that and it’s almost an understatement,” he said. “Every guy on their team, they can all score, they can all defend well, but it’s the the intangible stuff. They all know how to pass the ball, they play within themselves, they all execute things. They don’t just run the play right; they run it at full speed exactly the way that coach Tedder wants it. And credit to those kids, they’re outstanding players, but coach Tedder, I think, is the best coach in our league at getting his kids to do exactly what they need to do to win. And so I respect that team a lot.”
The freshmen Wolves, with their up-tempo style of play, never slowed down all night long — continuously penetrating the lanes and finding the open man whether it be inside or outside.
“It’s like we’ve got five point guards out on the floor,” Tedder said. “They see the floor really well and they play off of each other really well. And they’ve played enough basketball together that, it’s like they know where each other’s going to be.”
Christon got things rolling for the junior Wolves with a drive to the rim off the opening tip. Robinson found his rhythm, hitting multiple shots from behind the arc, ending the first quarter with a drive from the top of the key for a 19-9 lead.
Robinson kept his energy high into the second with a 3-pointer off the left baseline off a pass from Christon. Point guard Easton Hurley put up several shots of his own, capping the half with a shot from inside at the buzzer.
Robinson added six rebounds, three steals and two assists to his point total for Lake Hamilton while both Carter and Christon put up 8 points. Carter had four rebounds, two assists and a block, and Christon finished with three rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. Hurley had 7 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals, Cooper Kindt had 4 points and two rebounds and Zane McCain had
1 point with a rebound. Mosley led Conway White with 12 points, three rebounds and an assist. Chandler had 8 points, two rebounds and a steal, Devin Jackson had 6 points, two rebounds, a steal and an assist, Booy had 4 points with a steal and a rebound and Lockhart had
3 points while Caden Henderson and Trayvon Safford each added a point apiece.
The junior Wolves travel to Cabot South on Monday while Conway White heads to Cabot North.