Eastern Hancock’s Jacob Spaulding, right, consoles Isaac Lewis moments after their loss to Clarksville Providence in the IHSAA Class 2A boys basketball semistate championship at Seymour High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Tom Russo | The Daily Reporter
SEYMOUR — On a night when defenses dominated, Clarksville Providence was able to make just enough offensive plays needed to put an end to the best season in Eastern Hancock boys basketball history.
At Seymour High School’s Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium, Saturday, the Royals, who won a school-record 22 games and advanced to the semistate for just the second time, were defeated 41-33 in the Class 2A South Semistate.
Eastern Hancock led 30-25 heading into the final quarter, but were outscored 16-3 in the final period.
The Royals went 0-for-12 from the field in the final quarter, getting their only points on three free throws from junior guard Jacob Spaulding.
Spaulding hit two free throws with 2:40 left in the game to put the Royals up 33-32.
Providence took its final lead with 1:35 remaining on a putback from 6-4 senior Grant Williams. The Pioneers extended the advantage to four, 37-33 with 32 seconds to go on a 3-pointer from Max Beatty.
“We were trying to make plays and it didn’t happen. They were trying to make plays and their’s did happen,” Eastern Hancock senior guard Landon O’Neal said. “We really defended well. For us, 33 points, that’s normally what we score with two or three players. Our defense helped us there and we were, at least, making some shots (in the first three periods). In the fourth quarter, we couldn’t make them.”
In both the third and fourth periods, the Royals had a number of shots that went in and out. Even with some tough-luck third-quarter shooting, the Royals were able to extend their one-point halftime lead to five. In the final quarter, they just couldn’t get the shots to drop.
“It’s an interesting thing. It’s a make or miss game,” Eastern Hancock head coach Aaron Spaulding said. “They hit some shots at some key times. We had a few shots that seemed to have touched every inch of the rim other than the bottom of the net.
“They made a couple (putbacks) at key times that kind of got a little separation that we weren’t able to overcome.”
Providence scored the game’s first seven points.
The Royals battled back to cut it to one by the end of the period. Junior Edric Miller scored on a drive. O’Neal had a conventional three-point play and Jacob Spaulding hit the first of the team’s five 3-pointers. When junior sub Grant Gray scored on a baseline fade-away jumper, the Royals trailed 11-10.
To start the second quarter, Gray picked up where he left off. He hit a 3 to give Eastern Hancock its first lead, 13-11. Two Jacob Spaulding free throws made it 15-11 and completed a 13-2 run.
O’Neal hit a 3 in transition to give the Royals a 20-16 advantage with 2:05 left in the half. Providence answered with a trey from Grant Seebold to make it 20-19 at the break.
After Miller, senior Cole Rainbolt and O’Neal all had 3-point attempts go in-and-out, Jacob Spaulding got one to fall to give the advantage back to Eastern, 23-22, with 4:55 left in the third. O’Neal added a trey on the Royals next trip and Jacob Spaulding scored off a steal to put the Royals up 28-22 with 3:32 remaining in the third.
Jacob Spaulding, who had seven of the Royals 10 third-quarter points, scored on a drive to the bucket for a 30-24 Royals lead with 1:45 left in the third quarter, but it would be the team’s final made field goal.
“We both had an opportunity to really take away the game (in the fourth quarter),” Jacob Spaulding said. “Our shots didn’t fall. They really stepped it up. Props to them for taking advantage of our missed opportunities.
“We missed a couple really good looks that would have stretched the game out. They capitalized. Props to them.”
“They weren’t falling and then we got sort of out of our groove,” Miller added. “It kind of just switched gears for the game. They started getting momentum and we lost it. Early on, they weren’t used to our switching defenses. We kept switching it up (in our zone) on them and that gave us a lot of deflections and a lot of steals. That turned into offense and our shots were falling.”
Jacob Spaulding led the Royals with 15 points. O’Neal had 11. Gray finished with five and Miller scored two.
Beatty led the Pioneers with 15. Off the bench, Seebold hit three 3s for nine points. Casey Kaelin, who was a 20-plus point scorer in last week’s regional final, was held to eight. Williams had five, all in the fourth quarter. Tyler Simmons finished with four points.
The Royals shot just 26.1 percent (11 of 42) from the field, including 0 of 12 in the final quarter. They were 5 of 21 (23.8 percent) from 3-point range. They committed just five turnovers.
Providence hit 34.8 percent from the field (15 of 43) and were 6 of 17 (35.3 percent) on 3s. They had 13 turnovers. They out-rebounded the Royals 40-21.
The Royals had won nine straight prior to Saturday’s loss to the Pioneers. During that run, which began with a victory at Blue River Valley on Feb 15, the Royals picked up their first sectional title since 2008, with a win over No. 11 Northeastern, and followed it with the program’s first regional crown since 2003.
They finished the regular season ranked No. 9 in Class 2A.
Five players will graduate from the squad, O’Neal, Rainbolt, Cyrus Burton, Zach Arnold and Isaac Lewis.
Four key juniors that played regularly will be back in the Spaulding twins, Jacob and Silas, Miller and Gray.
Though top players will return, the loss puts an end to an era of two classes that have played together since the juniors were in kindergarten and the seniors were in first grade.
“Irreplaceable,” Silas Spaulding said of the 2021-22 team. “I can’t describe how much I love those guys. We’ve played together forever. I’m proud of everybody. Everybody gave their all. Everybody played with so much heart.”
“This is family,” Jacob Spaulding added. “Ten guys that really wanted to do something that no one has ever done before. I am really proud of all of our guys. It’s been an honor to play with them.”
O’Neal leaves with 1,459 points, second on the school’s all-time scoring list. He is the all-time leader in 3s with 249.
“I wouldn’t want to do it with anybody else,” the senior said of this Royals team. “Every guy in that room I would consider my best friend and I would do anything for them. So, to come here with them … I wouldn’t want to do it with any other group of guys. I’ll really miss competing and playing with them every day.”
Coach Spaulding added, “I told them (after the game), I know you’re disappointed and I know you’re sad. You’ll have some time to let it sink in that we’re arguably the most successful team (in school history). We have the most wins. We tied for furthest we’ve advanced in the post season. That’s a lot of accomplishment. No one needs to hang their heads.”
Providence 41, Eastern Hancock 33
Eastern Hancock;10;10;10;3;—;33
Providence;11;8;6;16;—;41
Eastern Hancock (22-6): Landon O’Neal 4 1-1 11, Cole Rainbolt 0 0-0 0, Edric Miller 1 0-0 2, Silas Spaulding 0 0-0 0, Jacob Spaulding 4 5-6 15, Burton 0 0-0 0, Gray 2 0-0 5. Totals: 11 6-7 33.
Providence (20-6): Max Beatty 6 0-0 15, Casey Kaelin 3 2-4 8, Grant Williams 1 3-4 5, Cade Carver 0 0-0 0, Tyler Simmons 2 0-0 4, Quentin Hesse 0 0-0 0, Jaden Johnson 0 0-0 0, Grant Seebold 3 0-0 9. Totals: 15 5-8 41.
3-point goals: Eastern Hancock 5 (O’Neal 2, J. Spaulding 2, Gray); Providence 6 (Beatty 3, Seebold 3)
