CHARLOTTESVILLE — The Eastern Hancock Royals fell into a hole they couldn’t quite climb out of on Friday night, as they fell to the visiting Southwestern Spartans 45-39 in their second game of the season.
After scoring only eight points in the first half, the Royals last-ditch comeback effort fell just short.
“I felt like we came out a bit tentative,” Royals coach Aaron Spaulding said. “Our shot selection was a bit out of ratio. we shot 10 3’s and two 2’s in the first half, which isn’t the way we’d like to do things.”
The good news for the Royals is that they only gave up 15 points themselves in the first half. Blake McClure, 6-foot-7, was making things difficult for the Royals in the first half, establishing himself as an inside presence early and often.
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“They did a great job of establishing position for (McClure) and then getting him the ball,” Spaulding said. “Ideally, that’s what we’d like our offense to look more like,”
With the Royals defense keyed on McClure in the third quarter, the Spartans were able to nail some key 3-pointers to keep the game at arm’s distance.
However, in the fourth quarter, the Royals began to come back.
“Down the stretch there, Peyton Gray, played really well,” Spaulding said.
It was Gray’s four-point run that got the Royals to within two with two minutes remaining, the closest the game had been since the first quarter.
The Royals gave up five quick points, but were not done working.
Brady Smith sank two free throws, then Cole Rainbolt stole the inbounds pass and after a scramble Smith knocked down a 3-pointer to make the deficit just two again with 20 seconds left.
The Spartans were able to make their free throws down the stretch, however, and the Royals suffered their first loss of the season.
“We’re an inexperienced team,” Spaulding said. “We hadn’t been in a situation like that before and it showed.”
Gray finished with a team-high 12 points in the loss. He added five rebounds. Brady Smith had nine points and Ian White had eight for the Royals.
Eastern Hancock will take the court again tonight as they host Wes-Del at 7:30 p.m.
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Southwestern 45, Eastern Hancock 39
SW;6;9;16;14;-;45
EH;5;3;15;16;-;39
Southwestern (1-1) – Hartsell 3 11-16 19, McClure 4 6-10 14, Hodson 2 0-0 6, Blocher 1 0-0 3, Drake 0 3-5 3. Totals: 10 20-31 45.
Eastern Hancock (1-1) – Gray 4 4-4 12, Smith 2 4-4 9, White 3 0-0 8, Schrope 2 0-0 4, O’Neal 1 1-4 3, Rainbolt 1 0-2 3, Starrett 1 0-0 2. Totals: 14 9-14 39.
3-pointers: Eastern Hancock 4 (White 2, O’Neal, Smith 1), Southwestern 5 (Hartsell, Hodson 2, Blocher 1).
Rebounds: Eastern Hancock 20 (Starrett 7, Gray 5, Schrope 4, O’Neal, Rainbolt, Smith, White 1), Southwestern 22 (McClure 8, DaArmitt 5, Hartsell 4, Drake 3, Blocher 2).
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