Prep Hoops: Harrisburg falls at home to Massac County
Harrisburg dug themselves a hole Friday night and then quickly went to work, pulling themselves out.
Right when the Bulldogs had their fingers on the ledge, Massac County was there to make sure they couldn't climb out.
Harrisburg (3-3, 1-1 SIRR Ohio) starred down the barrel of a 17-point first half deficit, fought back to outscore Massac County (1-2, 1-1) in each of the second half quarters, but didn't have enough bullets in a 65-61 loss Friday night at Davenport Gymnasium.
The win for the Patriots gave Massac County head coach win No. 699 in his career and said down the stretch, his kids were able to hold their composure and made some good basketball plays.
"I think changing our defenses up bothered Harrisburg tonight," Hosman said. "Even there at the end, they were hitting some three's on us and we hadn't played man-to-man defense all year, but Harrisburg was getting some open looks and when we went to man defense, I think that caught them off guard.
"But to come in here and be able to get a win, I'm just tickled. If you would have saw this team a month ago compared to right now, I'm just so happy with how they have matured and are getting better."
The two teams combined for 18 3-pointers on the night as Harrisburg went 12-of-30 from beyond the arc, using the trifecta as fuel to get back into the game in the second half when they went 7-for-15.
Massac County finished at 6-for-14 from downtown and put three players in double figures as Isaiah Thompson had a game-high 21 points, to go along with 20 points from Darian Roundtree and Noah Taylor.
It was the first action Roundtree had seen all season as he was slowed by an injury to start the year and Thompson took the bulk of the Patriots workload in the first half, finishing with 10 first quarter points as Massac County jumped out to a 18-13 lead.
"In the first quarter we gave up 18 points and that's at a pace far more than what we expect to generate offensively," Smithpeters said. "The size (Thompson at 6-foot-6) bothered us some as we know we have to really fight against that. We gave up some three's or at least some open shots to people we know our shooters. We just made some mistakes."
Massac County stepped on the gas in the second quarter, going 4-for-7 from 3-point range and put some separation between them and the Bulldogs, holding Harrisburg scoreless, while the Patriots went on an 11-0 run to build a 29-16 lead. Harrisburg trimmed the deficit to 10 at halftime to make it 32-22.
It was much of the same in the third quarter as Massac County built a 42-25 lead, but that's when Harrisburg went to work getting seven third quarter points from Isaiah Saulsberry to end the third quarter down 46-38.
It was a barrage of 3-pointers by Harrisburg in the final eight minutes, making five, including one by Carson Burtis with 2:00 to play to cut the deficit to four at 58-54.
Harrisburg got as close as three, 62-59 following another 3-point from Burtis, but Massac County finished 5-of-6 from the line in the closing seconds.
We played harder the second half," Smithpeters said, crediting his kids for digging out of the hole. "I thought Massac County just played harder than us in the first half. I think we learned a lot, I hope we did. With our specific situations we have and when you're trying to come back, we cut it to seven points at one time and then instead of drawing a line in the sand and defending and coming back on the offensive end, we tail spin and the lead goes back up to 12 of 14 points. Those are things you cannot allow to happen, but hopefully something we learn from."
Harrisburg also put four players in double figures as Saulsberry had a team-high 16 points. Noah Ferrell finished with 14 points, while Burtis tacked 13. Hunter Smith scored 11 points, while Jordan Gould chipped in with seven points.
Harrisburg returns to action tonight (Saturday) playing host to Du Quoin, while Hosman will go for win No. 700 when the Patriots host Anna-Jonesboro.
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register and Eldorado Daily Journal. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.
Harrisburg 13 09 16 23 - 61
Massac County 18 14 14 19 - 65
Harrisburg: Gould 2 3-4 7, Smith 4 0-0 11, Saulsberry 4 5-6 16, Bartok 0 0-0 0, Ferrell 5 0-0 15, Burtis 5 0-0 13, Hefner 0 0-0 0, Doss 0 0-0 0, Russ 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 9-12 65
Massac County: Miller 1 0-0 2, Roundtree 5 8-12 20, Rennie 0 0-0 0, Taylor 5 1-2 14, Thompson 10 1-5 21, Duckworth 1 1-2 4, Burgess 2 0-0 4, Mitchell 0 0-0 0.
3-point FG: Harrisburg 12 (Ferrell 4, Burtis 3, Saulsberry 3, Smith 2), Massac County: 6 (Taylor 3, Roundtree2, Duckworth 1). Rebounds: Harrisburg 17, Massac County 20. Turnovers: Harrisburg 9, Massac County 13.