CHARLOTTESVILLE — After back-to-back four-point losses, the Eastern Hancock boys basketball team was searching for a way to get back on track.
They did just that at home on Friday night in a 60-30 trouncing of rival Knightstown.
“It’s nice to bounce back. Those were two tough losses against good teams that we thought we let slip away a bit,” Eastern Hancock head coach Brett Bechtel said. “Tonight was a bit of a refocuser to get back to some things that we want to do moving forward.”
The Royals win was sparked by an early third-quarter run.
Up 29-18 entering the break after a Luke Morris 3-pointer late in the second quarter, Bechtel and the Royals coaching staff made the start of the third quarter a major point of emphasis during the halftime discussion.
“Last week we had a bad start to the first quarter and a bad start to the third quarter. In the locker room that was something we talked about,” Bechtel said. “We wanted to make sure that we didn’t give them those first two minutes because they might’ve been the most important two minutes of the game. We did not want them to get any momentum to get back in.”
The Royals answered the task.
A 10-0 run to open the half pushed the Eastern lead to 39-18, and they never looked back.
Over the 10-point run, Kayden Ruble scored two baskets, and both Caiden Willis and Charlie Halcomb knocked down a trey.
“It was just a mindset to get stops and get good looks,” Bechtel said. “That’s exactly the way we wanted to start that half.”
A layup by Knightstown’s Brayden McDaniel ended the run, but Ruble answered right back with a layup of his own, and Willis capped off the quarter with a steal and basket to put the Royals ahead 48-22 entering the fourth quarter.
Behind a pair of Caden Powers buckets, Eastern pushed the lead to 55-29 late in the fourth before the 60-30 final score.
Along with the red-hot start to the third quarter, the Royals jumped out to a lead in the first quarter.
An Eli Manship layup made things 10-2 after the first, and four Ruble points to open the second capped off an 11-0 Royals run.
Two Knightstown second-quarter runs kept things within striking distance.
A 7-0 run capped off by a Peyton Inman 3-pointer cut the lead to five, and later in the half, a 5-0 Knightstown run trimmed the lead down to just two before a Halcomb 3 kept the Royals ahead by two scores.
“We cannot go through lulls where we don’t score because it’s tough enough for us to score to begin with,” Bechtel said. “We have to find ways to get baskets, and we were much better at that tonight.”
Leading the way for the Royals was junior forward Ruble. He led all scorers with 19 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Sixteen of his points came in the middle two quarters.
“He’s [Ruble] really good. They’re long but they’re a little thinner than us so we thought we could attack them inside,” Bechtel said. “The ball has to go inside to Kayden regardless of who we’re playing, and he did a good job of being patient and getting to the spots he wanted to tonight. He was fantastic.”
Defensively, the Royals limited the Panthers leading scorer, Michael Roberson, well below his season average of 18.2 points per game.
He was held to just one made basket and three points through the first three quarters before scoring seven in the fourth to finish with a team-high 10 points.
“He’s [Roberson] a very good player. He’s long, can shoot over the top of you, and can attack off the dribble. Our plan was to not give him any space and be as physical as we could with him,” Bechtel said. “We wanted to get him off his spot and push him out as far away as we could. Luke Morris was awesome doing that tonight, and so was Eli Manship when he needed to spell Luke.”
Along with Ruble’s 19, Halcomb scored 11, both Morris and Willis added eight, and Manship added six.
The Royals are back in action tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Blackford.
–
Eastern Hancock 60, Knightstown 30
Knightstown;2;16;4;8;—;30
Eastern Hancock;10;19;19;12;—;60
Knightstown (5-3): Michael Roberson 4 1-1 10, Palmer Newkirk 1 1-4 4, Brayden McDaniel 2 3-8 7, Peyton Inman 2 0-0 5, Travis Louks 2 0-1 4, Derius Moore 0 0-0 0, Brantt Ellis 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11 5-14 30.
Eastern Hancock (3-3): Luke Morris 3 0-0 8, Caiden Willis 3 1-5 8, Kayden Ruble 7 5-6 19, Charlie Halcomb 4 0-0 11, Luke Schilling 0 1-2 1, Eli Manship 3 0-0 6, Caden Powers 2 0-0 5, Garrett Shaw 1 0-0 2. Totals: 23 7-13 60.
3-point goals: Knightstown 3 (Inman, Newkirk, Roberson); Eastern Hancock 7 (Halcomb 3, Morris 2, Powers, Willis).
