By RICHIE HALL
FISHERS – Hamilton Southeastern had to deal with a hot start from Lawrence North Thursday night, and that carried the Wildcats to a 66-51 victory at the Royals’ gym.
Lawrence North scored the first 12 points of the game before Southeastern got on the board with a basket by Mabor Majak. The Wildcats continued to cruise after that, eventually taking a 24-8 lead by the period’s end. Jared Hankins scored 11 points for LN in that quarter.
“We got off to a rough start,” said Royals coach Brian Satterfield. “I think that set the tone. They hit those perimeter shots and they gained some confidence. And once they had the lead, they were able to be patient and get looks how they wanted to. We just were out of sync.”
The Wildcats led 31-9 at one points during the second quarter, but the Royals got their offense going in the later minutes of the period, cutting that lead to 35-19 by halftime. Southeastern finished with a 6-0 run; Majak, Vinny Buccilla, Noah Smith all made baskets.
Lawrence North opened the second half with a 7-0 run, and kept its lead around 20 points for the entire third quarter. Chris Grubbs added nine points for HSE during the third, which ended with the Wildcats ahead 56-33.
The Royals made a big push in the fourth quarter, going on an 11-0 run to get within 56-44. Grubbs took over the game, scoring nine points of that run, which he finished with a 3-pointer. Aaron Etherington helped out with a pair of free throws. Southeastern got to within 12 points two other times in the quarter, but a quick five-point burst by Lawrence North sealed the game.
“I give our guys a lot of credit,” said Satterfield. “We kept fighting, we kept fighting and then finally made a little run there towards the end of the third quarter, and especially the start of the fourth quarter. Got it manageable, but just dug ourselves too deep a hole to get out of.”
Grubbs led all scorers with 25 points, and also had seven rebounds and four assists.
The Royals finished the regular season 14-8. Southeastern will open play at the Carmel sectional at 6 p.m. Tuesday, taking on Westfield.
Lawrence North 66, Hamilton Southeastern 51
Southeastern FG FT TP PF
Noah Smith 1-5 1-2 3 0
Aaron Etherington 2-7 3-4 8 3
Chris Kottlowski 1-3 0-0 2 0
Cam Harris 0-1 0-0 0 1
Brandon Miller 0-0 0-0 0 0
Kole Hornbuckle 0-2 0-0 0 2
Chris Grubbs 8-13 7-10 25 1
Vinny Buccilla 2-3 0-0 5 1
Mabor Majak 3-5 0-0 6 2
Bradley Beemon 0-5 0-0 0 3
Landon Morris 1-2 0-0 2 1
Elliot Robinson 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 18-46 11-16 51 14
Score by Quarters
Lawrence North 24 11 21 10 – 66
Southeastern 8 11 14 18 – 51
Southeastern 3-point shooting (4-17) Grubbs 2-3, Etherington 1-6, Buccilla 1-2, Beemon 0-2, Kottlowski 0-2, Smith 0-1, Morris 0-1.
Southeastern rebounds (23) Grubbs 7, Smith 4, Majak 4, Etherington 3, Buccilla 2, Hornbuckle 1, Morris 1, team 1.
Hamilton Southeastern’s Aaron Etherington (left) gets ready to pass the ball to Chris Grubbs during the Royals’ game with Lawrence North on Thursday. (Richie Hall)