The Daily Double Hawks get Pirates twice in 8th grade, freshman IVC tourney
By Dave Mast
February 10, 2013
301
The Daily Double
Hawks get Pirates twice in 8th grade, freshman IVC tourney
For the Hiland Hawks, it was a very good day.
For the Garaway Pirates, not so much.
Both schools sent quality teams into their respective eighth grade and freshman Inter-Valley Conference tournament finals at Hiland High School on Saturday, Feb. 9, but it was the Hawks who escaped with a pair of championships in tow in front of a large crowd in The Hawks Nest.
Hiland's eighth-graders won a 44-36 battle, while the Hawks freshmen were able to deliver a 40-30 knockout to the Pirates.
In the opener, the two eighth grade teams, which had split during the years regular season, would settle once and for all which team would reign supreme.
The Hawks forged a 20-10 lead as Turner Horn spotted Hiland a solid advantage. Noah Sommers hit a free throw and Horn scored on a one-and-one near the end of the half to give the Hawks a 24-10 halftime lead.
Garaway came out with what seemed like a greater intensity in the second half, and after Horn scored inside, RJ Jacobs scored twice inside, making it 26-16. Mitch Massaro hit a pair of free throws for the Hawks, and Tyler Bardall knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 28-19, but Hiland would reel off six straight, four from Horn and two on a pretty baseline drive from Curtis Yoder. Jacobs would end the quarter with a bucket, and the Pirates had a big mountain to climb, trailing 34-22.
Things would get worse before they would get decidedly better for Garaway.
Massaro would bury a 3-pointer to give Hiland its biggest lead at 40-25, and then Garaway decided to turn up the pressure picking up the Hawks full court pressure.
It almost worked.
Garaway went on a tear, led by Jacobs, who started the comeback bid with a lay-up. Ty Hamsher popped in a trey, then Joel Honigford scored inside and Jacobs hit a pair of free throws.
During that span Hiland either turned the ball over or rushed shots, and suddenly it was 40-34 with 2:14 to play.
However, with 1:08 left to play after Hiland ran some time, Jared Yoder stepped up and delivered a pair of free throws, and after a Pirates miss inside, Sommers would score on the block to push it back to a 44-34 Hiland lead with 30 seconds left.
That would be enough, the Hawks fending off a spirited Pirates comeback bid to claim the title.
In the freshman game, Hiland shot out to an 8-2 lead on the strength of a 3-pointer by Mark Schlabach, and that would not be the last time Schlabach would deliver for the Hawks.
However, by the end of the first quarter, Garaway had erased that lead to only three with a bucket from Broc Beachy.
In the second period, Austin Mast's drive spotted Hiland to a 15-9 lead, but Garaway took control of the second quarter from there, with Beachy scoring twice and Cameron Miller hitting for five, including a long 3-pointer, to give Garaway a 22-21 edge heading into the locker room. Hiland had trouble trying to contain Michael Troyer, who ended the half with eight points.
Buckets by Eric Mullet and Bruce Troyer gave Hiland a 25-22 edge, but a trey by Logan Mast locked things up at 25.
A late three by Mullet gave the Hawks a 28-25 lead heading into the final quarter, where Schlabach would simply take over.
Buckets by Michael Miller and Jacob Kalman of Hiland were nearly offset by another Mast 3-pointer for Garaway, but Schlabach scored six for Hiland, with the Pirates held to a lone free throw, and suddenly it was 43-34 Hiland. Beachy gave the Pirates hope by banging in a trey to make it 43-37, but Hiland displayed great ball control down the stretch, forcing the Pirates to foul.
Schlabach made little doubt as to the outcome, nailing four straight free throws to help thwart any comeback ideas for Garaway, and the Hawks completed the daily double.
