By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
A rivalry game is never over until it’s over.
Hamilton Heights knew that going into the second half of its boys basketball game with Tipton, which was played Friday in a nearly sold out Husky Dome. The Huskies led by double digits at one point during the second quarter before the Blue Devils made their run in the second half.
But Heights weathered the storm, making its own comeback from being down early in the fourth period to win 51-50. It was only the second loss of the season for Class 2A No. 3 Tipton.
“This is a big win, big rival win,” said Huskies coach Chad Ballenger. “It always feels good when you can beat the Blue Devils.”
Heights revived itself from a 37-34 deficit by scoring seven unanswered points during the first half of the fourth period. It started with a putback from Max Beale, then Michael Cross drained a couple free throws to put the Huskies ahead 38-37. Tyler Wiltermood added another free throw, and Cross then hit a layin.
Tipton came back to tie a couple times, first at 41-all, then at 44-all. Drayden Thomas, who had a sensational game, broke that first tie with a three-point play, which the Blue Devils answered with a three-point play by Alec Weddell.
Thomas stepped up again, this time with a 3-point basket. That got Heights up 47-44, and the Huskies led for the remainder of the game.
“He shot the ball really well to start with,” said Ballenger of Thomas’ effort. “We’re still trying to get him healthy. He had that ACL tear. He’s starting to show some good signs of coming back. He’s coming along.”
Ballenger said that Thomas has been getting “better and better” over the last few games. That culminated with a 25-point performance Friday against Tipton.
“He’s really a mismatch for a lot of teams, because he can shoot it on the perimeter and he can post up,” said Ballenger. “I’m just real proud of him because he’s worked really hard to come back, and he’s earned everything he’s got.”
The Huskies pushed their lead to 50-45 with under 20 seconds to go, but the Blue Devils made things interesting when Carson Dolezal was fouled on a 3-point attempt, then made all three free throws.
AJ Field finished the game’s scoring with a foul shot with 12.2 seconds left to put Heights up 51-48. Tipton’s final 3-point attempt didn’t go, but the Blue Devils rebounded and got up one last shot. It went in, but it was also shot from inside the 3-point arc. Thus the Huskies escaped by one point.
“Total team effort,” said Ballenger. “We had guys diving on the floor. We put our keys on the board earlier in the week and we talked about it all week, the things we need to do. It was probably the most locked in and focused that we’ve been in a long time, so it was a good lesson for us. It was a great game, I thought they followed our game plan to a T and they were fun to watch.”
Heights helped itself out by playing a great first half. The Huskies led 15-8 after the first quarter, with Thomas scoring 13 of those points. That included three 3-pointers; the senior ended the game a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc.
In the second quarter, Heights led 23-10 midway through and were still up by double digits, 28-17 at halftime. Freshman Gus Etchison helped out with five points. Tipton began making its run in the third quarter, where it outscored the Huskies 16-6. The Blue Devils began a 10-0 run late in the third period to erase a 34-27 deficit.
“We’ve seen it on film a couple times,” said Ballenger. “They had a couple games where they got down. They were down 10 to Cass at halftime and had a big third quarter. It’s one of those deals where it’s nice to have that lead, but we sat so long for Homecoming activities and had so much going on that it was hard to keep the guys focused.”
“But I thought we did a good job. We stopped the runs when we had to and we had some big plays. I thought Michael Cross came in and did a good job. It was really by committee. Besides Drayden Thomas going crazy, we nickel-and-dimed them with four points, five points, a couple guys with one point.”
While no other player came close to the 25 points of Thomas, the “nickels and dimes” of the other players added up. Beale finished with six points, Etchison and Wiltermood both added five, and Cross and Caleb Bean contributed four points.
Thomas also led the boards with six rebounds, while Beale collected five. Etchison handed out four assists.
With the win, Heights is guaranteed no worse than second place in the Hoosier Conference’s East Division, where it finished play with a 3-1 record. Northwestern currently leads the division at 3-0, while its Friday loss at the Husky Dome was the first for Tipton, putting them at 2-1.
Overall, the Huskies are 8-7 and are back in action next Saturday (Feb. 3), hosting Twin Lakes at 1:30 p.m.
Heights 51, Tipton 50
Heights FG FT TP PF
Max Beale 3-4 0-1 6 3
Drayden Thomas 9-15 3-3 25 3
Gus Etchison 2-9 0-0 5 0
Caleb Bean 2-5 0-0 4 0
Hudson Hochstedler 0-0 1-2 1 3
Michael Cross 1-1 2-3 4 2
Camron Knott 0-5 0-0 0 1
Tyler Wiltermood 1-3 3-4 5 2
AJ Field 0-0 1-2 1 1
Totals 18-42 10-15 51 15
Score by Quarters
Tipton 8 9 16 17 – 50
Heights 15 13 6 17 – 51
Heights 3-point shooting (5-11) Thomas 4-4, Etchison 1-1, Knott 0-4, Beale 0-1, Wiltermood 0-1.
Heights rebounds (23) Thomas 6, Beale 5, Wiltermood 3, Hochstedler 3, Cross 2, Knott 2, Etchison 2.
Hamilton Heights’ Michael Cross (3) gets a hand on the ball during the Huskies’ boys basketball game with Tipton Friday at the Husky Dome. Also pictures for Heights are Camron Knott (4) and Tyler Wiltermood (23). (Richie Hall)