Hamilton Southeastern pulled away from Franklin Central late in the fourth quarter, and the Royals were soon on their way to a 61-48 Hoosier Crossroads Conference victory in a Thursday home game.
Southeastern led 15-7 after the first quarter and ran that advantage up to 22-8 during the second period. The Flashes came back to get within 25-21 by halftime and pulled closer by the end of the third quarter, which closed with the Royals ahead 40-37. The two teams battled until the latter stages of the fourth, when Southeastern made a 12-2 run to go up by 12 points with around two minutes left.
Vinny Buccilla scored 17 points for the Royals, and had a solid all-around game with five rebounds and five assists. Alex Totton added 11 points. John McCall dominated the boards, pulling a career-high 14 rebounds and also blocking two shots. Sam Jacobs collected six rebounds.
“Great production from our bench tonight,” said HSE coach Brian Satterfield.
The win puts the Royals at 4-2 in the conference, in a tie with Westfield and Zionsville for second place. Southeastern is 9-6 overall and hosts Homestead, the top-ranked team in Class 4A, on Saturday afternoon.
HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 61, FRANKLIN CENTRAL 48
Southeastern FG FT TP PF
Jason Stutz 1-2 0-1 2 4
Alex Totton 3-9 3-5 11 2
Dalton Retzner 4-6 1-2 9 3
Vinny Buccilla 6-12 4-7 17 2
Sam Jacobs 2-5 4-7 8 0
John McCall 0-2 4-6 4 2
Isaac Bowman 2-6 0-2 6 1
Loudon Sundling 2-3 0-0 4 0
Mohammed Awad 0-0 0-0 0 1
Totals 20-45 16-30 61 13
Score by Quarters
Franklin Central 7 14 16 11 – 48
Southeastern 15 10 15 21 – 61
Southeastern 3-point shooting (5-17) Totton 2-7, Bowman 2-5, Buccilla 1-3, Stutz 0-1, Jacobs 0-1.
Southeastern rebounds (39) McCall 14, Jacobs 6, Buccilla 5, Sundling 4, Totton 3, Retzner 3, Awad 1, team 3.