Cumberland gives Hendricken tough test in quarters
Contributing writer
The No. 9 Cumberland boys basketball team was bounced in the Division I quarterfinals after they fell to the top-seeded Bishop Hendricken 61-53 on Tuesday night.
Hendricken sophomore Sebastian Thomas led the Hawks with 19 points while his teammate Andre De Los Santos finished with 12. Cumberland senior Jackson Zancan scored a game-high 24 and Dante Aviles-Santos, a junior, scored 14.
“I thought we came out, we knew what we had to do, but we were letting the ball get up the sidelines to quick,” Cumberland coach Gary Reedy said. “I mean, they got about ten points off of fast breaks. If we could have stopped that, the game might have gone a little bit different.”
“In the first half, the momentum would have stayed with us more,” Reedy said. “I mean, they’re a well-coached team and you’re playing in their den. You know they’re favored and we were the 1 and 8 seed so, I think we gave them a good game. We’re a very young team. So, I’m proud of the kids.”
Cumberland jumped out to an 8-0 lead early, which started with a layup from Zancan, a putback from Seth Anderson, and a 3-pointer from Aviles-Santos.
But, the Hawks talked it over, and then answered with a 6-0 run and pulled within two.
With 11:30 left in the half, the Hawks knotted the game at 10 when Robert Fiorito made a steal and heaved the ball ahead to De Los Santos for a transition basket.
Forty seconds later, Hendricken took a 14-12 edge before Cumberland’s Zancan drilled a 3-pointer and put the Clippers up one.
The clubs continued their back-and-forth battle for the remainder of the half and Hendricken owned a 38-34 lead heading into the break.
The Clippers got the first bucket of the second half and got within two, but then, the Hawks were able to pull away.
Fiorito answered with a pull up jumper, then, Hendricken got a transition basket from Thomas and went up six.
With 13:21 left, Thomas recorded a steal and scored on a breakaway before De Los Santos made a bucket and extended the Hawks’ advantage to ten.
Two minutes after that, Hendricken went up 55-41 when Thomas made an old-fashioned three-point play and then, followed it with a layup on his next trip down.
The Clippers cut the deficit to ten with just under five minutes to play, but the closest they would get after that was eight.