Boys Basketball: Hampshire comes out of tight game a winner

Updated: December 23, 2011 11:19PM

Hampshire finally won a close one. In a back-and-forth game where no team led by more than four points, the Whip-Purs eked out a 68-66 overtime win Friday night over the host Barbs at DeKalb’s Chuck Dayton Holiday Tournament.

Tied at 66 in overtime, Hampshire (3-7) inbounded the ball with less than 40 seconds remaining. After going through its looks, Hampshire’s Brock Ralphs drove to the basket before finding Tyler Watzlawick open for a layup and a 68-66 lead with 20 seconds remaining. With two fouls to give, the Whips frustrated the Barbs (3-8) on their final possession by using each, as they finally inbounded the ball for a final shot with 5.8 seconds left. Senior Dan Matya had a good look at a three-pointer from the left corner, but the shot hit off the back of the rim and was secured by Hampshire’s Tyler Crater.

“Every close game this year, we’ve lost. It feels good to finally get a win,” Watzlawick said. “Brock had a nice drive and kick on our possession there. It was a nice pass.”

Hampshire’s big men, Watzlawick and Shane Hernandez, each had banner nights. Watzlawick scored a team-high 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Hernandez added 12 points, seven rebounds and four blocks. However, each had trouble stopping DeKalb’s 6-foot-7 Andre Harris, who scored a game-high 25 with eight rebounds. Tied at 62 at the end of regulation, Harris scored each of his team’s two overtime baskets. His basket with 2:00 remaining gave the Barbs a 66-64 lead, but Watzlawick came back with a basket of his own before Hampshire took the lead for good.

“He’s a hell of a player,” Watzlawick said. “I love these types of games. Usually I get double-teamed, but we were going one-on-one most of the night.”

Down 60-57 in the fourth quarter, Hampshire’s Ralphs hit a three-pointer with 1:30 left to tie the game.

Later, Harris cut to the hoop for an easy basket to give the Barbs a 62-60 lead with 1:05 left. Again, Watzlawick came back with two clutch free-throws to tie the game with 51 seconds to go. DeKalb held for the final shot, but James Robinson’s three-point attempt hit off the backboard as time expired.

Ralphs scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half. Crater added 12 points for the Whips, who shot a blistering 63 percent (27 of 43) from the field.

“We had a very frank discussion this morning as a team and ironed some things out,” said Hampshire coach Bob Barnett. “We let some feelings out and after that we came out and were ready to play. We played with intensity on defense and offense. We had a couple mistakes there at the beginning over overtime and I thought ‘here we go again,’ but we made a nice recovery and things happened to bounce our way this time. It’s a nice win.”

Brian Sisler scored 15 points for DeKalb, and Matya added 10 points.

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