CHARLOTTESVILLE — For those that believe the Eastern Hancock Royals hang their hat solely on great perimeter shooting need to realize they wear more than one hat.
The Royals red-hot, first-half shooting set the tone and gave them a comfortable lead in Thursday’s non-conference matchup against Tri High.
When the shooting temperature dropped significantly in the third quarter, the Royals relied on another one of the program’s staples.
The Royals were turnover-free for over three and one-half quarters and made only two the entire night (both after the game was well in hand) in their 73-55 victory over the Titans.
Tri wasn’t as protective. It committed 26 turnovers, 13 in each half. The Titans had 24 turnovers before the Royals had their first.
“We’ve really taken care of the basketball the last two years,” Eastern Hancock head coach Aaron Spaulding said. “We’ve always emphasized taking care of the ball. This group of boys, especially, even as young as we were last year playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores we set a school record (9.04 turnovers per game).
“I think we have a decent shot (currently averaging 7.1 this season) at breaking that this year. We had two tonight. I told them after the game, having two turnovers is hard to do if you are in the gym by yourself.”
Taking care of the ball not only helped the Royals when the shots weren’t falling, but helped the team that has struggled much of the season, due to its size, on the boards.
Tri had a big rebounding advantage (44-21) Thursday, but the Royals had 21 more shot attempts.
“(Being able to handle the basketball) is really important to us. When we get out-rebounded we really make up for it by not turning the ball over,” junior guard Landon O’Neal said. “We’re all really strong with the ball because we push each other every day in practice. We work on being strong with it so we can handle pressure.”
Tri cut a big Eastern Hancock lead down to 11 in the second half but couldn’t get any closer. That’s because when the Royals were both shooting well and taking care of the ball, they were able to build a huge lead.
Eastern Hancock led 47-22 at halftime.
Sophomore guard Silas Spaulding had a team-high 24 points. He hit his first five shots, including three 3-pointers and had 13 points in the first quarter, 16 at the halftime break. Twin brother Jacob Spaulding had 16, with 10 in the first half. He was 4 of 5 from the field after 16 minutes.
O’Neal finished with 17 and was one of five Royals to hit a 3-pointer in a 25-point second quarter. He has 821 points for his career, moving up to No. 11 on the school’s all-time list.
He passed Jerry Vail, who played from 1987-90, with 814. Next up on the list is Roy Andrews at No. 10. He scored 830 points from 1979-82.
The Royals were 8 of 17 from 3-point range (47.1 percent) in the first half, but went 0 of 7 in the final two quarters. Eastern shot just 18.8 percent (3 of 16) in the third quarter, before picking it back up in the final eight minutes.
Eastern shot over 50 percent in the other three periods, including 53.8 percent (7 of 13) in the fourth.
“I thought we did a nice job recovering and finishing the game off in the fourth quarter,” coach Spaulding.
Along with the three double-figure scorers, sophomore Edric Miller had nine points off the bench, including one of the second-quarter 3-pointers. Cole Rainbolt had five points and a team-high seven rebounds. Cameron Wise scored two points.
Tri sophomore Caelin Huffman led all scorers with 26. He was the Royals biggest nuisance in the Titans attempt to make a comeback. He scored 13 points in the third quarter.
Jonah Huffman scored 15.
The Royals improved to 12-1 and have won three straight since suffering their first loss at Shenandoah on Jan. 23.
“You got to learn from it,” coach Spaulding said of how the team has rebounded from the loss to the Raiders. “I always say, every now and then, a good butt-kickin’ is good for the soul. It gets you refocused. You certainly don’t ever want them, but when you get them you have to use them as motivation.
“We’ve come out and have got three good wins.”
