By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
Saturday night’s Hamilton Heights-Sheridan boys basketball game at Hobbs Memorial Hall had several of the elements that make classic rivalry games so entertaining.
There was tension, there were great performances. Kids stepped up, and there were also a few incredible plays. The game was close for three quarters, but the Huskies pulled away in the fourth for a 76-61 victory over the Blackhawks.
The first period was played at a torrid pace, with Heights leading 10-7 halfway through. The Huskies led 16-13 by the end of the quarter. Sheridan’s Ange Gnamkey had eight points, including a dunk that put his team of 5-3.
The Blackhawks took the lead going into halftime after a crazy sequence of events. With Sheridan down 28-24, the Hawks’ Drake Delph made a basket while being fouled with less than two seconds to go in the half. However, he had to come out of the game after it was discovered that he had a bloody nose. Austin Hunter stepped in to make the free throw, which he did.
The Huskies tried to inbound, but the ball was overthrown and went out of bounds. That gave the Blackhawks the ball back under their basket. It was inbounded to Gnamkey, who threw up an off-balance shot from beyond the 3-point line.
You know where this is going, right? Gnamkey’s shot went in at the buzzer. In 1.7 seconds, Sheridan went from being down 28-24 to leading 30-28. Huskies coach Chad Ballenger said that was big.
“That was a game-changer,” said Ballenger. “When you go late in the third quarter and you’re looking, that’s six points you can take off. It’s a totally different game.”
Ballenger is normally mild-mannered, but he can be a firecracker when he needs to. He got fiery with his team during the halftime break.
“I got on them pretty hard,” said Ballenger. “We weren’t really focused this morning and that was a big key. I felt like we didn’t start the game and be totally focused the way I wanted to. I think Sheridan’s a very good basketball team, they did a lot of good things to us tonight.”
Heights briefly took the lead early in the third quarter when Drayden Thomas converted a three-point play. Hunter answered with a 3-point shot, and the ‘Hawks would not trail for several minutes of the period.
In fact, they made an 8-2 run to go up 43-37. Four different players (Gnamkey, Delph, Hunter and Nick Burnell) scored baskets.
The Huskies needed someone to step up and Camron Knott answered the call. Knott made a 3-pointer to get Heights within 43-40, and that would start a 20-6 run that carried the Huskies well into the fourth period.
Knott got hot – very hot, in fact. His second 3-pointer of the game trimmed Sheridan’s lead to 46-45 and came after Hunter his second ‘3’ of the game. Then Caleb Bean added two more baskets, and Heights was in front 49-46 at the three-quarter buzzer.
“As I told our guys at halftime, ‘We’re going to find five guys that can guard and lock down and make a run,’ and I thought we did,” said Ballenger. “I thought we did a good job defensively.”
Sean Weitzel got the first points of the fourth quarter, a traditional three-point play to tie the game at 49-all. But Knott drained his third 3 soon after, and the Huskies would hold the lead from there. Knott continued his hot shooting, making two more triples – his fifth one gave Heights a 63-53 lead.
“Camron Knott was big, that’s what he does,” said Ballenger. “We’ve waited for that to happen. We got stops and we hit free throws.”
In all, five Huskies players reached double figures in scoring. Knott led the way with 17 points. Freshman Gus Etchison did his part, scoring 15 points.
Bean played an assertive game with 14 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots. Thomas and Michael Cross both added 10 points, with Cross getting six rebounds and Thomas making a pair of blocks. Hudson Hochstedler grabbed six rebounds and handed out four assists. Max Beale dished out six assists.
As for Sheridan, Gnamkey led the way with 18 points and seven rebounds. Weitzel finished with 13 points and Delph added 10. After a frustrating loss to Indiana Math & Science on Friday, Blackhawks coach Chris Schrank said that his team’s play was “like a 180” on Saturday night.
“If we can play like that all the time, we’ll be just fine,” said Schrank. “They’re one of the better teams on our schedule. They’re always good, they’re always tough. And we were right there with them for the majority of the game, until #4 (Knott) decides to make every shot that he threw up. He just got really hot.
“I’m a lot happier with our effort,” said Schrank. “Our attitudes are great. We’re good teammates. I thought we played pretty well until they started to break away from us and then it was tough for us to try to claw back.”
Heights is now 7-7 and has another big rivalry game on Friday: Tipton – the battle of State Road 19 – will come to the Husky Dome that night for a Hoosier Conference game.
Sheridan is 6-6 and also plays its next game Friday at home, taking on Taylor in a Hoosier Heartland Conference game.
Heights 76,
Sheridan 61
Heights FG FT TP PF
Max Beale 0-1 1-2 1 4
Drayden Thomas 4-5 1-1 10 2
Gus Etchison 4-10 6-9 15 0
Caleb Bean 6-7 2-2 14 5
Hudson Hochstedler 1-2 4-4 6 0
Michael Cross 3-4 4-5 10 3
Camron Knott 6-12 0-0 17 2
Tyler Wiltermood 1-1 1-1 3 0
Sam Wahl 0-0 0-0 0 1
AJ Field 0-2 0-0 0 2
Totals 25-44 19-24 76 19
Heights 3-point shooting (7-16) Knott 5-10, Thomas 1-2, Etchison 1-2, Cross 0-1, Hochstedler 0-1.
Heights rebounds (28) Bean 7, Cross 6, Hochstedler 6, Thomas 3, Beale 2, Knott 2, Etchison 1, Wiltermood 1.
Sheridan FG FT TP PF
Austin Hunter 3-4 1-1 9 3
Drake Delph 4-6 1-4 10 3
Caleb Duke 2-6 0-2 5 4
Ange Gnamkey 8-14 1-3 18 2
Nick Burnell 2-3 0-0 4 3
Sean Weitzel 2-7 9-9 13 2
Tanner Swindle 1-1 0-0 2 0
Jack Waitt 0-0 0-0 0 0
Brody Perry 0-0 0-0 0 1
Nick Roberts 0-0 0-0 0 0
Nolan Buckner 0-0 0-0 0 0
Logan Koepkey 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 22-41 12-19 61 18
Sheridan 3-point shooting (5-12) Hunter 2-3, Duke 1-4, Delph 1-2, Gnamkey 1-1, Weitzel 0-2.
Sheridan rebounds (16) Gnamkey 7, Weitzel 4, Burnell 2, Hunter 1, Waitt 1, Swindle 1.
Score by Quarters
Heights 16 12 21 26 – 75
Sheridan 13 17 16 15 – 61
Hamilton Heights’ AJ Field (10) is guarded by Sheridan’s Jack Waitt (3) during the Huskies-Blackhawks boys basketball game Saturday at Hobbs Memorial Hall. Heights won 76-61. (Richie Hall)