Holcomb boys hold on late to beat Senath-Hornersville

Aaron Lynn

Daily Dunklin Democrat

SENATH,Mo.- The Holcomb Hornets and Senath Hornersville Lions should be geared up for this week's district tournament after the game they played on Friday night. It was a game of runs that saw five lead changes throughout. The Hornets finished with the last run to take the game by a score of 60-49 and escape Senath with a win on Senior Night.

SHHS took an early advantage, but Holcomb finished the first half strong by taking the lead. The Hornets built on their lead up to 12-points in the third, but the Lions came back on a run to take the lead in the fourth. Holcomb gathered themselves at the end by being perfect from the foul line to take the game.

After the half, the Hornets held a four-point advantage (26-22). Holcomb really started to pull away and build on their lead by pushing it to 12-points in the third quarter. Jamie Massey got the scoring started for the Hornets by hitting one of two from the line in the first 10-seconds (27-22). Steven Kirkpatrick stole the ball from the Lions on their following possession. Kirkpatrick's steal led to him sinking a mid-range jumper 23-seconds into the half (29-22). After SHHS got one point from the foul line, Holcomb's Shane McElwrath was fouled after coming down with an offensive rebound. McElwrath hit both of his foul shots to give Holcomb a six-point lead at the 6:14 mark of the third quarter (31-25). The Lions had some missteps on their following possession's with a travel call and a throwaway. The Hornets took advantage of SHHS's missed opportunities when Kirkpatrick nailed a 3' from the top of the key at the 4:32 mark in the third.

"I felt like we didn't really shoot it with confidence,"said Holcomb coach Seth McBroom. "We've got some kids that can really shoot it. I think they were questioning themselves on whether to pull it or not. At half-time, I talked to them about playing with confidence at this point in the season. If they were open for a 3' and thought they could knock it down, I wanted them to take it. It's a different story if we need a big basket inside. I think we hit some big 3's to take the lead and give us some cushion in the third, but I want them to shoot it with more confidence like they know they can."

Kirkpatrick's 3' pushed the lead to nine-points (34-25). The Lions misfired on their next possession, but got a second chance when Wes Wesmorlan came down with the offensive board. SHHS missed another scoring opportunity though as they couldn't convert the rebound to points. Jorge Garza got the Lions on the board by driving to the basket at the 3:56 mark in the third (34-27).

The Hornets still had something in the tank during this run though.

Tyler Crawford pushed the Hornets lead to 10-points by hitting a 3' from the corner at the 3:40 mark in the third (37-27).

"We didn't want to let them shoot the 3' at will, but our main focus was to stop the inside game." said Senath-Hornersville coach Shane Jordan.

The Lions came down with three offensive rebounds on their next set, but couldn't put any points on the board. Massey finally came down with the defensive rebound for Holcomb. The ball came back to Massey on Holcomb's end and he got a basket in the paint at the 3:04 mark. Massey's basket pushed the Hornets lead to 12-points (39-27).

The Hornets finished their run at that mark and SHHS answered back with their own run over the next three-minutes. The Lions overcame their 12-point deficit to actually take a two-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Matt Fouts started the climb for SHHS by hitting a 3' from the top of the key with 2:40 left in the third. Fouts' 3' might have give the Lions a momentum swing by cutting Holcomb's lead from double digits to nine-points (39-30). Fouts also came down with a defensive rebound when the Hornets came up empty on their following offensive set. Fouts' rebound led to Michael Gardner driving the lane for a basket with 1:38 left in the third (39-32). Holcomb couldn't really establish anything offensively for the rest of the third and the Lions were there to clean the glass on the Hornets' offensive sets. With 1:05 left in the third, Wesmorlan hit a 3' from the left side to bring SHHS to within four-points (39-35). Gardner ended up converting an "And 1" in the final two-seconds of the third to cut the Hornets lead down to one-point and finish the quarter (39-38).

"Late in the third we cut the lead to one-point after being down by 10-points," Jordan said. "The biggest reason is that the kids kept playing hard and never gave up. The seniors wanted to play hard on Senior Night and the juniors wanted to play hard for them."

The final quarter saw the Lions take the lead, but in a game of runs, the Hornets had the last one.

Holcomb opened the quarter with Alex Johnson driving to the basket for two-points (41-38). SHHS carried over their third quarter momentum though and Gardner converted an "And 1" 18-seconds into the quarter (41-41). Gardner's "And 1" tied the game for the first time since the 4:00 minute mark of the second quarter.

"I thought Jordan Bibbs and Gardner really played well down low on both sides of the court," Jordan said. "Our guards did a good job of getting the ball to them too."

SHHS took the lead 40-seconds later with Wesmorlan putting in a floater from the lane (43-41). On Holcomb's following offensive set, Bibbs came up with a blocked shot and a steal for the Lions. The turnover couldn't be converted to points and turned out to be the end of the Lions' run. The Hornets did turn the ball over twice on their following two possessions, but SHHS failed to put any points on the board.

Holcomb tied the game with 5:21 left to play on two Zach Williams' foul shots (43-43). As SHHS inbounded the ball, Williams came up with a steal for the Hornets. Holcomb pulled down three offensive rebounds on this set and Massey was fouled on his attempt. Massey hit one of his two foul shots to give the Hornets the lead with 4:54 left to play (44-43). Massey gave Holcomb a three-point lead 30-seconds later by hitting two foul shots (46-43). The Lions pulled back to within one-point on two Garza free throws, but Holcomb stretched their lead to five-points over the next 1:10. Massey got two more from the foul line and then came up with a steal that led to Williams sinking a mid-range jumper. Williams' basket gave the Hornets a five-point lead with 2:55 left to play (50-45).

The Lions had a last gasp when Bibbs put in four-points over the next minute.

"Bibbs played his tail off," McBroom said. "I like the way we match up with SHHS, but he was there to play tonight. I was really impressed with him."

One-point came from Bibbs hitting one of two from the line. The next three-points came when Gardner was sent to the foul line. Gardner missed both of his foul shots, but Bibbs came down with the offensive rebound and was fouled on the put back. Bibbs converted the ''And 1" to pull the Lions within one-point with 1:59 to play (50-49).

Holcomb came back with a Johnson basket with 1:30 to go to stretch their lead to three-points (52-49). The Lions came up empty on their next set, but Garza was able to get the ball back for them. Garza was able to lock up with a Holcomb player to fight for the ball. The call on the floor was a held ball and the possession arrow favored the Lions. The Lions couldn't get any points out of their second chance and had to start sending Holcomb to the line.

"We didn't take a very good shot after we got the ball there," Jordan said. "Then, Holcomb hit their free throws late. We put them on the line and they didn't miss."

The Hornets were able to seal the game as they were perfect on their free throws in the last minute.

"It's all about stops late in the season," McBroom said. "In the first half we were just going through the motions and a little bit in the second half. Thats taking nothing away from SHHS because they played their tails off. They wanted to win that game and they probably played hard enough to win that game. Coach Jordan has done a great job with that bunch."

The first half of the game was much like the second with both teams going on runs.

The Lions jumped out on top in the opening minutes of the game. After Holcomb's Williams found Massey under the basket for two-points, SHHS went on an 8-0 run.

The Lions out-rebounded the Hornets 5-2 during their run in the opening five-minutes of the game. The run started with Heath Horvath finding Bibbs in the paint for a bucket 1:05 into the game. After some good defense on both sides, Fouts drove the lane for a lay-up at 4:56 in the first quarter to put the Lions on top (4-2). On Holcomb's following possession, Gardner came up with a steal for SHHS that led to him putting up a floater in the lane for a basket (6-2). With Holcomb coming up empty on their next possession, SHHS got the ball back thanks to a Horvath defensive rebound. On the Lions side of the court, Fouts drove to the basket then dished of a behind the back pass to Jon Wommack. Wommack hit the shot and caused the Hornets to call a time-out. Wommack's shot capped of the Lions run at the 3:50 mark in the first quarter (8-2).

After the time-out, Holcomb started to slow the Lions up a bit. The Hornets came out of the time-out showing a full-court press that gave SHHS some trouble.

"We usually don't go small against teams, but you have to do what it takes to win," McBroom said. "We were able to get the press going and that hurt SHHS a little bit. We're not a real great pressing team, but we can throw one at you every now and then. At times that helped us tonight."

On the possession following the time-out, Holcomb's Massey had a put back on an offensive rebound (8-4). The Hornets went to the press after the made basket. Holcomb came up with a steal off of the press, but threw the ball away on their offensive set. SHHS took advantage of the throwaway with Fouts finding Horvath in the corner for a 3' with 2:21 left in the first quarter (11-4). On the following possession, both teams came up with steals, but could not convert them to points.

With 1:13 left in the first, Holcomb started to go on their run and get some points off of their press.

Dylan McCormick got a basket in the paint for the Hornets to pull within five-points (11-6). As the Lions brought the ball up-court, Holcomb got another steal from the press. This turnover led to Massey getting a bucket under the basket (11-8). Jordan Osborn got another steal off of the press as the Lions tried to move up-court. This steal led to Osborn getting the ball back to hit a mid-range jumper with 35-seconds to go in the first (11-10).

Gardner protected SHHS's lead by converting an "And 1" with 29-seconds to go, but the Hornets answered back with McElwrath getting the ball to Kirkpatrick for a bucket. Kirkpatrick's basket close out the first quarter with Holcomb down two-points (14-12).

The first two-minutes of the second quarter saw the Hornets overcome their deficit to tie the game.

Holcomb came up with a steal right of the bat at the start of the quarter, but they couldn't convert it to points. The Hornets pulled to within one-point when Massey hit one of two from the line 33-seconds into the quarter (14-13). One minute later, Holcomb tied the game when they again hit one of two foul shots, this time from Crawford (14-14).

Even though Holcomb had put a run together to tie the game, SHHS took the lead right back thanks to the inside play of Bibbs.

At the six-minute mark of the second quarter, Bibbs blocked a shot and ended up with the ball. On the other end of the court, the ball came back to Bibbs for a basket in the paint (16-14). The next play was an exact replica of the first. Bibbs blocked the shot, got the turnover, and ended up with it on the other end for two-points in the paint (18-14). After a missed shot on the Holcomb side, Bibbs gathered the defensive rebound and the Lions found him again under the basket (20-14). Bibbs' bucket at with 4:40 left in the half gave the Lions a six-point lead (20-14) and caused the Hornets to spend another time-out.

After the time-out, Holcomb started to take advantage of SHHS's 2-3 zone with some perimeter shooting.

Kirkpatrick banked a quick 3-pointer off of the glass to pull the Hornets within three-points (20-17). The next scoring of the game came 28-seconds later when Williams hit a 3' from the corner. Williams' 3' tied the game up for Holcomb with 3:50 left to play in the first half (20-20).

Holcomb opened up a small four-point lead in the final three-minutes of the half.

Crawford got a reverse lay-up that put the Hornets up by two-points. Kirkpatrick came up with a steal that led to Crawford hitting two foul shots and McCormick had a put-back on an offensive rebound. The Lions only scoring during this time came when Fouts stole the ball and got it to Garza for a fast break basket. Fouts did come up with a steal in the final seconds, but there was not enough time to convert it.

Holcomb went into the half with a four-point advantage (26-22).

SHHS had two players reach double digits in scoring. Gardner led with 16-points and Bibbs finished with 12-points.

Holcomb had four players reach double digits with Massey leading at 15-points. Williams put in 13 while Kirkpatrick and Crawford both finished with 10-points.