Hamilton Southeastern picked up another tough win Friday night, edging out old rival North Central 65-62 in an away game.
The Class 4A No. 5 Royals had been involved in a back-and-forth contest with the 4A No. 10 Panthers, and found themselves trailing by two with less than a minute to go. But Southeastern’s Nick Bowman hit a 3-pointer within the last 30 seconds to put his team up by one.
North Central then turned the ball over right away. The Royals’ Noah Smith was fouled, and he made both his free throws. The Panthers got the ball back with seven seconds remaining, but couldn’t get a shot off and called timeout with 1.5 seconds left. NC tried for one last shot, but the Royals challenged the shot and it was no good.
The Royals led 13-8 after the first quarter and 29-27 at halftime. Three players reached double figures: Bowman scored 17 points, Chaz Birchfield scored 16 and Smith had 13.
“Anytime you get a team that’s balanced, it just makes it so much tougher for teams to defend,” said HSE coach Brian Satterfield. “We’ve generally had three or four guys in double figures or close to double figures.”
Birchfield came close to a double-double with nine rebounds, while Aaron Etherington and Mabor Majak each pulled six. Bowman dished out six assists and made four steals. Etherington handed out four assists, and Smith had three steals.
“When it counted, we were able to knock down shots when we needed to,” said Satterfield.
The Royals are now 4-0 for the season. They are back in action this afternoon, taking on an unbeaten (5-0) Center Grove team as part of the Forum Credit Union Tip Off Classic at Southport. Southeastern’s game starts at 3 p.m.
