By RICHIE HALL
WESTFIELD – Practice makes perfect, or something close to it.
Hamilton Southeastern’s Tyler Lacy came pretty close to perfect shooting Friday night when the Royals traveled to Westfield’s CSI Gymnasium to take on the Shamrocks in a Hoosier Crossroads Conference game. Lacy nailed seven of nine 3-point attempts, which helped power Southeastern to a 66-58 victory over Westfield, which is ranked No. 1 in the IBCA one-class coaches poll and No. 3 in the Associated Press Class 4A ratings.
The Royals got off to a hot start, leading 5-0 after Sam Jacobs opened the scoring with a triple and Caleb Smock made a floater. The ‘Rocks worked their way back to tie the game at 8-8; Braden Smith scored four points, then Cam Haffner and Nic Depasquale scored after HSE’s Donovan Hamilton drained a 3.
That was just the beginning for the Royals. Lacy threw in his first 3-pointer late in the quarter, with Jacobs also making two triples. That gave Southeastern a 17-10 lead at the end of the period, and the Royals pushed that advantage up to 22-10 after Alex Troutman made a putback and Lacy hit his third 3 of the game.
Westfield came storming back with an 8-0 run; Smith nailed a pair of triples and Alex Romack was good on a layin. A three-point play by Depasquale tied the game at 24-24, and after a Jacobs basket, Smith was fouled with 0.6 seconds left on a 3-point attempt. Smith made all three free throws, and Westfield entered halftime up 27-26.
The Shamrocks enjoyed a 33-28 lead during the third quarter before Lacy struck again. He drained four more 3s during the period, the majority of a 17-6 run that got the Royals in front for good. Jacobs helped out with five additional points, and Southeastern led 45-39 after three.
“Super happy for a kid like Tyler Lacy,” said Royals coach John Ashworth. “He just puts in the work. He shot the ball like that in practice all week and we knew he’d get a chance tonight. I didn’t quite think he’d shoot 7 for 9. But to win really tough conference road games, you’ve got to have players step up.”
Southeastern held the lead throughout the fourth quarter. Smith hit a 3-pointer early in the period to get Westfield within 47-44; that basket was significant because with it, Smith became the all-time leading boys scorer at Westfield High School, breaking Brandon Richie’s 20-year record of 1,479 points.
The Royals quickly pushed their lead back up to 52-44, as Miles made a layin and Lacy threw in his seventh 3 of the game. Later, Reph Stevenson made a dunk while getting fouled, and his free throw at the 2:01 mark gave Southeastern a 57-48 lead.
“Hats off, first of all, to HSE. They played extremely well,” said Westfield coach Shane Sumpter. “They came out ready to play and they certainly outplayed us tonight.”
The ‘Rocks continued to fight, with an and-1 by Romack keeping Westfield within 57-53 with 1:31 left. But the Royals finished it up from the free-throw line, where Deion Miles was outstanding in making 7 of 8 foul shots during the game’s final 1:15.
“He had some time off during Winter Break, missed two games, and so for him to get back and really hit some big free throws down the stretch, I think that’s just going to help his confidence,” said Ashworth.
Jacobs finished the game with 22 points, while Lacy’s seven 3s translated to 21 points. Miles totaled 11 points. Jacobs also had six rebounds and four assists.
“They played very well and they certainly deserved to win the game tonight,” said Sumpter. “We just never could get over the hump.”
Smith scored 27 points, and also had five rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots. Romack added 11 points and eight rebounds, Haffner totaled 10 points and Depasquale dished out four assists.
Southeastern is 2-1 in conference play and 5-6 overall, and hosts Anderson tonight. Westfield is 0-2 in the conference and 9-3 overall, and also plays again tonight, welcoming Culver Academies.
HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 66, WESTFIELD 58
Southeastern FG FT TP PF
Donovan Hamilton 1-7 0-0 3 1
Reph Stevenson 2-4 1-1 5 0
Caleb Smock 1-3 0-0 2 2
Deion Miles 2-3 7-8 11 0
Sam Jacobs 9-20 1-2 22 1
Tyler Lacy 7-9 0-0 21 2
Joshua Jones 0-2 0-0 0 1
Michael Griffith 0-0 0-0 0 3
Alex Troutman 1-1 0-0 2 1
Totals 23-49 9-11 66 11
Southeastern 3-point shooting (11-18) Lacy 7-9, Jacobs 3-3, Hamilton 1-4, Smock 0-1, Jones 0-1.
Southeastern rebounds (29) Jacobs 6, Stevenson 4, Hamilton 3, Miles 3, Griffith 3, Smock 2, Jones 2, Troutman 2, team 4.
Westfield FG FT TP PF
Braden Smith 9-22 5-5 27 3
Trey Dorton 0-1 0-0 0 2
Cam Haffner 4-13 1-1 10 4
Nic Depasquale 3-9 1-1 7 1
Alex Romack 5-5 1-2 11 3
Trey Buchanan 1-2 0-0 3 1
Kai Butterworth 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 22-52 8-9 58 14
Westfield 3-point shooting (6-28) Smith 4-14, Haffner 1-8, Buchanan 1-2, Depasquale 0-3, Dorton 0-1.
Westfield rebounds (29) Romack 8, Smith 5, Dorton 4, Haffner 4, Buchanan 2, Depasquale 2, Butterworth 1, team 3.
Score by Quarters
Southeastern 17 9 19 21 – 66
Westfield 10 17 12 19 – 58