Eastern Hancock’s Silas Spaulding defends Lincoln’s Gavin Trent in the second round of the IHSAA Hagerstown 2A Sectional on Friday, March 4, 2022.
Richard Sitler | For The Daily Reporter
By James Howell Jr. / For The Daily Reporter
HAGERSTOWN — The Eastern Hancock Royals are rolling into Saturday night’s sectional championship game with a second straight dominant victory.
Following Wednesday night’s emphatic win over Union County, the Royals (19-5) cruised past the Cambridge City Lincoln Eagles (8-13) in the semifinal game, 80-40.
Early the Royals were near perfect, leaving the Eagles little room for error. That was a tall task for the young team from Cambridge City, as they have just one rostered senior.
A press defense was the focus for the Royals to create east break opportunities on offense. The focus was well executed as they forced eight first quarter turnovers from the Eagles.
Royals head coach Aaron Spaulding explained the focus was a lot of what his team focused on all year.
“Take care of the ball and get turnovers,” Spaulding said. “That’s been the message all year and something we’ve done a great job of. Tonight was no different.”
The turnovers turned into a comfortable 20-9 advantage after a quarter of play.
Leading the way early on, Landon O’Neal and Grant Gray scored 17 of the Royals 20 points in the quarter.
The second quarter was a near mirror image of the first as the Royals again outscored the Eagles 20-9, to take a 40-18 lead into the break.
With a blowout and mercy rule opportunity afoot, the Royals turned the burners up and put the game out of reach for the Eagles with 4:30 remaining in the third quarter. A Jacob Spaulding 3-pointer pushed the lead to 35 and began the running clock.
With the pressure of time lifted, the Royals used the chance to rest their legs ahead of the championship game.
O’Neal led the Royals with 23 points while Gray and Jacob Spaulding also reached double figures.
The Royals committed just four turnovers and forced 19 from the Eagles.
“Overall a good night with good execution,” Spaulding said. “We did what we had to do and will take that next step into a big game tomorrow.”
The Royals will meet a familiar face in the Northeastern Knights in the championship game at Hagerstown. In a meeting earlier this season the Royals edged the Knights by four points.
“Northeastern is a great team,” Spaulding said. “They’re also a team we know well and they know us well. We won the game earlier this year but went back and forth a bunch of the summer with them.”
Spaulding acknowledged the key to winning the sectional title is going to come down to who executes their game plan best.
“We have to hit on every mark against them,” Spaulding said. “They’re going to be ready and we have to be just as ready. It should be a great game.”
The sectional championship game is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m.
Eastern Hancock 80, Cambridge City Lincoln 40
Eastern Hancock;20;20;24;16; — ;80
Cambridge City Lincoln;9;9;8;14; — ;40
Eastern Hancock (19-5): Landon O’Neal 9 2-2 23, Grant Gray 5 1-2 14, Jacob Spaulding 4 0-0 10, Edric Miller 4 1-2 9, Cole Rainbolt 3 0-0 8, Silas Spaulding 3 0-0 6, Cyrus Burton 2 0-0 5, Caiden Willis 2 0-0 2, Zac Arnold 0 0-2 0. Totals: 32 4-8 80.
Cambridge City Lincoln (8-13): Alex Bertsch 6 0-0 17, Tyler Wyles 2 3-4 7, Logan Vance 3 0-0 6, Evan Stuckey 1 0-0 3, Marshall Pate 1 1-2 3, Gavin Trent 1 0-0 2, Aidan Munchel 0 0-1 0. Totals: 13 4-7 40.
3-point field goals: Eastern Hancock 11 (O’Neal 3, Jacob Spaulding 2, Gray 3, Rainbolt 2, Burton 1),Cambridge City Lincoln 6 (Bertsch 5, Stuckey 1).
