Landon O’Neal hoists the trophy for Eastern Hancock as he celebrates with senior teammates Isaac Lewis and Cyrus Burton. Eastern Hancock defeated Northeastern 61-48 to win the Class 2A Sectional 41 championship at Hagerstown on Saturday, March 5, 2022.
Richard Sitler | For The Daily Reporter
HAGERSTOWN — Twin brothers Jacob and Silas Spaulding recalled watching from the upstairs seating area across from the Eastern Hancock bench.
They didn’t remember a whole lot about the game other than it was a pretty big deal to their dad, head coach Aaron Spaulding.
Landon O’Neal had a better seat. He sat in the front row and was high-fiving the Eastern Hancock players as they came onto the Robert E. Clark Gymnasium floor.
Jacob and Silas were three-years old. Landon was four.
That was in 2008, the last time the Eastern Hancock Royals boys basketball team won a sectional championship.
Fast forward to 2022, the Spaulding boys and O’Neal paved the way for the school’s sixth tournament title and first since they were little fellas cheering on their local heroes.
Aaron Spaulding is still the coach.
All of his teams are special, but when the horn sounded in Eastern Hancock’s 61-48 victory over Northeastern in the Class 2A Sectional 41 title game at Clark Gymnasium Saturday night, it had a little extra meaning to the long-time coach, now in his 23rd season.
“It’s hard to take it all in,” the coach said shortly after his players lifted the trophy as the top team at the Hagerstown Sectional, the same site as their last sectional championship. “I’ve been with a lot of these kids since they were in kindergarten and first grade. I can’t even begin to describe it.”
O’Neal described it.
“This is awesome! I’ve been looking forward to this my whole life,” said the senior, whose voice cracked with emotion when talking about winning a sectional championship for his school.
He scored a game-high 28 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter. He hit 10 of 12 free throws in the final period to hold off a frenzied Knights team.
“This is everything we’ve worked for,” O’Neal added. “We’re going to keep playing. We’re not done yet, for sure. We’ve got a lot more basketball to play.”
The Royals, ranked No. 9 in Class 2A, improved to 20-5. They will play Southmont (19-6) in a 10 a.m. regional semifinal game Saturday at Greenfield-Central High School. The winner will play at 8 p.m. Saturday against either Triton Central (13-11) or University (15-9). The Tigers and Trailblazers play in the noon semifinal.
Northeastern, ranked No. 11, finished its season 19-6. Along with coming in to the game with an identical record, the Knights were also looking for their sixth sectional crown. All five previous titles came between 2014-2019.
Prior to Saturday night, Eastern Hancock had won sectionals in 1968, 1974, 1981, 2003 and 2008.
“I was with my mom (at the game in 2008),” Silas Spaulding said. “I’m not sure what happened, but I knew it was something special. I knew I wanted to do it ever since then. I knew our time would come and it was today. I’m proud of all the guys on our team, all the coaches, every fan that was here an hour before the game started. I’m proud of everyone involved.”
“We were in the corner at the top of the bleachers,” Jacob said of his vantage point as a 3-year old. “I don’t have much recollection of it but I knew it was very special for my dad. To win now that I’m older, it means a lot to me.”
The Spauldings are juniors. Silas finished with 13 points, 11 in the first half. Jacob had a game-best three 3-pointers and scored 11. The twins combined for all five of Eastern Hancock’s first-half 3s.
The Royals hit eight 3s and were 8 of 20 (40 percent) from beyond the arc. O’Neal hit two in the second half. Junior Grant Gray added a third-quarter trey.
They shot well from the perimeter — like they normally do — but they took the spirit out of Northeastern with their first-half pressure defense.
Eastern Hancock helped force 13 first-half turnovers. The Knights committed nine in the first quarter. The Royals led by eight points, 15-7, after one, and by 15, 28-13, at halftime.
Not until the Royals extended the lead to 23, 36-13, on an O’Neal third-quarter 3, did Northeastern begin to put up a strong fight.
Led by 6-8 senior Raedhyn Foust and 6-3 senior Payton Lumpkin, the Knights knocked the Royals advantage down to 11 by the end of the period. They cut it to seven in the final quarter.
O’Neal and junior Edric Miller helped seal it at the charity stripe. Along with O’Neal’s 10 of 12 accuracy, Miller hit 3 of 4. The Royals connected on 15 of 20 (75 percent) freebies in the final quarter.
“We came in here and wanted it so bad,” Jacob Spaulding said. “We’ve played them five times (including in the summer) the last eight months and I think we wanted it more than them. It showed in the first half. They started showing they wanted it, too, but not until the second half.”
“We wanted to win,” Silas Spaulding said. “That was our goal. We lost the (Mid-Eastern) Conference (to Monroe Central). Our next goal was to win the sectional. Why not come out and let ‘er rip. That was our motto for the playoffs.
“We hit our 3s. We hit layups. We got steals. We just did what it took to win. They were rattled by it. They came back, but we were able to call timeouts, take our breath. We said, ‘Slow down, hit free throws, don’t speed up the game. Let the game come to us and don’t force anything.’”
Foust finished with 22 points. He had 20 in the second half. Lumpkin added 14, 10 came in the final two quarters.
The win was Eastern Hancock’s seventh straight.
The 20 wins are the most since the 2002-03 season. That team went 20-6 and won a regional title.
“I, obviously, care about every group we’ve had but I’ve been with these kids for 12-13 years,” coach Spaulding said, finding the descriptive words. “To come up with a sectional championship after we had a pretty long drought … In fact, it’s kind of funny. We were on this bench and the same locker room the last time we won it in ’08. It’s kind of surreal right now.”
Eastern Hancock 61, Northeastern 48
Northeastern;7;6;16;19;—;48
Eastern Hancock;15;13;12;21;—;61
NORTHEASTERN (19-6): Payton Lumpkin 6 2-3 14, Grant Luebbe 1 0-0 3, Raedhyn Foust 7 7-11 22, Benjamin Deitsch 1 0-0 3, Wesley Hunt 0 0-0 0, Carson Terrell 1 0-0 2, Keaton Mikesell 0 2-2 2, Karsen Scarrette 0 0-0 0, Caleb Harmon 1 0-0 2, Michael Henry 0 0-0 0, Nolan Drake 0 0-0 0, Landon Scarrette 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 11-16 48.
EASTERN HANCOCK (20-5): Landon O’Neal 7 12-15 28, Cole Rainbolt 0 1-2 1, Edric Miller 0 4-6 4, Silas Spaulding 4 3-3 13, Jacob Spaulding 4 0-0 11, Cyrus Burton 0 1-2 1, Grant Gray 1 0-0 3, Zach Arnold 0 0-0 0, Isaac Lewis 0 0-0 0, Jayden Stine 0 0-0 0, Kayden Ruble 0 0-0 0, Luke Morris 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 21-28 61.
3-point goals: Northeastern 3 (Luebbe, Foust, Deitsch); Eastern Hancock 8 (J. Spaulding 3, S. Spaulding 2, O’ Neal, Gray)
