Hamilton Hornets-Class 2, District 16 Champions!
Saturday night at Maysville, the top seeded Hamilton Hornets faced the second seeded Mid Buchanan Dragons in the Class 2, District 16 Championship game. And what a game it was, including two technicals and at least one fan being removed from the facility.
The game remained close through the first quarter and was tied at 12 until Telly Harper hit a shot behind the arc as time expired giving Penney a 15-12 lead after one.
Hamilton would make a patented run early in the second period forcing Mid Buch to call a time out with the score 21-12 and 5:17 on the clock. With 3:19 left in the opening half, Telly would be whistled for his 2nd foul and set out the remainder of the half with the Hornets leading 25-14. Another starter, Mason McFall would also run into foul trouble, picking up his 2nd with 1:18 on the clock and Penney leading 27-19, and his 3rd with 41 seconds to go in the half and Hamilton on top 27-20. With 9 seconds on the clock, Latroy Harper made an old fashion three, giving the Hornets a 30-21 half time advantage.
Just 31 seconds into the 3rd quarter, Telly was called for his 3rd foul and would sit out the remainder of the period. Penney would increase their advantage to fourteen, 38-24, when Coach Kemper called a Mid Buch timeout with 4:23 on the clock.
An entertaining 4th quarter began with Hamilton leading 49-33. With 59 seconds gone in the period and the Dragons trailing 49-35, Telly and Mid Buch's Hunter Scaggs got tied up with Scaggs hanging on Telly, who had control of the ball, and Telly attempting to get loose. After the whistle, the three officials huddled near the free throw line in front of the Penney bench where the altercation occurred. After what seemed to be an hour, but was actually a few minutes, an official came out of the huddle and called Telly for a flagrant technical, but nothing was called on the Dragon player. The result was Telly was ejected from the game and must sit out the following contest.
Mid Buchanan was awarded two free throws, plus the ball. From that point on, both crowds were very vocal. However, immediately after the Dragons missed both free throws, a technical was called on the Mid Buch bench resulting in two free throws for the Hornets and the ball belonging to Penney at half court across from the scorer's table. It wasn't long after when a fan standing along the wall under the Hornet goal was escorted from the gym.
With Hamilton up 53-38, McFall was whistled for his 4th foul and 5:39 on the time piece. Coach Ross would call the next three time outs in the game; one with 4:05 on the clock and the Hornets up 53-44, the second at 3:21 and the score 53-47, and the third with the score 55-53 and 1:40 to go. Penney would lead 60-55 and 26 seconds left in regulation when the Dragons called time out. Hamilton would hang on for a 63-55 District Championship victory, but not without the play of Derek Dixon and Wesley Pratt who came off the bench to play some valuable and effective minutes throughout the contest.
Latroy Harper, a first team All-District selection, would not let the Hornets lose on this night as he scored a game high 35 points, hitting 12 of 21 field goals, leading the team with 9 rebounds, assisting on 1 basket, stealing the ball once, and blocking a shot, as well as playing tremendous defense. Jaran Richman, also a first team All-District selectee, scored 9 points, including 3 of 3 from the charity stripe, but more importantly made his teammates better by running the offense from the point without a turnover, leading the team in assists with 7 and steals with 3, plus blocking 2 shots while playing great defense. Telly Harper, who otherwise would have likely been a first team member had it not been for the flagrant technical, was selected to the All-District second team, and scored 6 points, going 2 for 3 from the field, securing 8 rebounds, dealing out an assist, stealing the ball once, blocking 1 shot, and taking a charge in less than three quarters of a game. Korby Ford was also a second team All-District member and scored 5 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, stole the ball twice, and handed out 1 assist with no turnovers and also played well on the defensive end of the court. Wes Pratt, who made 3 pressure packed free throws down the stretch, and Mason McFall, who also spent much of the night on the bench with foul trouble, each scored 3 points, and Derek Dixon, who hit an important bucket late in the game, had 2, all playing tough defense. McFall grabbed 3 rebounds, Pratt recorded 2 rebounds and assisted on 1 basket.
Double digit scorers for Mid Buchanan included Jacob Meikle, Hunter Scaggs, and Brayden Kemper with 12, 12, and 11 points respectively. The Hornets made only one 3-pointer compared to five for the Dragons. Penney hit 20 of 31 free throws to Mid Buch's 16 of 25. The Hornets committed only 6 turnovers while handing out 11 assists and recording 7 steals in the contest. Hamilton will face the District 15 winner, Wellington-Napolean, at 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday, March 2nd, at Staley High School.
The victor of this game will play the winner between Rich Hill and Skyline at 2:45 on Saturday, March 5th, at Lee's Summit High School.
Pictured: The Penney High Hornets from Hamilton claimed the Class 2, District 16 Title when they defeated the Mid Buchanan Dragons by a score of 63 to 55. Front Row (left to right): Tucker Ross, Will Edwards (Manager), Derek Dixon # 12, Ethan Green # 32, Brock Swindler # 20, Latroy Harper # 24 (All-District 1st Team), Cale Whitt # 44, Cody Dotson # 34, Drake Brown # 52. Back Row (left to right): Coach Jonathan Schieber, Coach Justin Joiner, Wesley Pratt # 10, Reed Henderson # 54, Telly Harper # 40 (All-District 2nd Team), Korby Ford # 22 (All-District 2nd Team), Jaran Richman # 30 (All-District 1st Team), Andy Ernat # 14, Mason McFall # 42, Coach Kelly Gentry, Head Coach Rick Ross
