HAGERSTOWN — In the blink of an eye, Eastern Hancock found itself in an unenviable position.
With the score 13-2 — in favor of Northeastern — less than three minutes into the Class 2A Sectional 41 opener, you might think the big deficit would put a quick end to the tournament road for a Royals team made up primarily of underclassmen.
Most of those young kids had never been in that postseason position before.
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The Royals’ IHSAA playoff run did eventually come to an end Tuesday night, but it wasn’t without a formidable fight.
Eastern Hancock battled back to within six points at halftime and had cut it to three early in the third quarter, before the Knights pulled away in the fourth quarter to defeat the Royals 63-45 at Hagerstown High School.
Northeastern improved to 18-6 and will move on to a Friday semifinal game. The Royals’ season ends with a 12-11 mark.
“I don’t have any fault with our kids tonight. They battled all night long,” Eastern Hancock coach Aaron Spaulding said. “I felt real good at halftime, down six, after that start.
“Our kids are competitors, no matter how young they are,” he added. “I was proud of them. They kept fighting and they’ve done that all year. We said tonight we’re going to play like we always have. I thought we did. No matter what the score was, we fought.”
The Royals got back in the game by hitting from long distance.
Sophomore Cole Rainbolt hit a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers. Twelve of the team’s 16 second-quarter points came from beyond the arc.
Freshman Silas Spaulding hit three treys in the second period and junior Cam Wise had the other.
The Royals got 30 of their 45 points from deep. Silas Spaulding led in scoring with 15 points on five 3-pointers. All 12 of Rainbolt’s points came from four long-distance jumpers.
A Rainbolt trey just 50 seconds into the second half cut the Knights’ lead to 30-27.
“We talked in the locker room about being together as a team and to go out and give it our all,” Rainbolt said. “We competed really hard.
“(When we got down big early) coach told us you just got to keep playing. We had to put it in another gear and push it to another level. Our shots started falling and our defense started clicking.”
Eastern Hancock was battling more than just a very strong opponent.
The school announced Tuesday it would be out today due to numerous student and teacher illnesses. Coach Spaulding said four players had missed school this week and one player missed last Friday’s regular-season finale, due to illness.
An e-mail sent out from the school on Tuesday said illnesses ranged from bronchitis, strep, Influenza A and Influenza B.
Another player, starting guard Zach Arnold, went down with an injury early in the third quarter.
“They gave everything they had and that’s all I can ask,” coach Spaulding said.
“I’m disappointed we lost, but any time you finish the year, you want to go down fighting. Credit to Northeastern, they’re a really good team. We battled. We just weren’t able to get it done.”
Northeastern was led in scoring by junior Carter Lumpkin with 22 points, 11 in each half. Kolden Vanlandingham, another junior, had 21 points.
Eastern Hancock lost to Northeastern in a regular-season game Dec. 13, in Charlottesville, 62-48.
Silas Spaulding and Rainbolt were the lone Royals to score in double figures. Cyrus Burton chipped in six points, all in the second half. Wise finished with five.
It was the final game for two Eastern Hancock seniors, Brady Smith and Connor Shultz.
“We had a great group of guys this year. We love every single one of them and they all contributed in their own way,” Rainbolt said. “Tonight, it just wasn’t our night.”
