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Kettle Run mounts late surge to knock out Tiger boys 55-54
The only sure way to secure a win in high school basketball is to perform consistently well for 32 minutes.Otherwise, all bets are off.
Kettle Run (3-14) came back from a 12-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter Feb. 10 to defeat the visiting Brentsville District boys basketball team 55-54 in a play-in game for the Northwestern District tournament.
Brentsville (2-15) led the Cougars by eight points or more from 15 seconds into the second quarter all the way through the start of the final period. The Tigers worked the ball to the hoop and hit their shots as they opened with a 10-0 run on the back of what would be a 9-2 rebounding advantage by the end of the first quarter.
Three particular moments pumped up Kettle Run during the second half.
With his team trailing 38-27, junior point guard Connor Massei fed 6-foot-4 teammate Jimmy Hargro (12 points) down low for a dead-center slam, electrifying the Kettle Run bench as players jumped out of their seats.
“I think the dunk really put a lot of momentum into everybody. I was trying to make stuff happen, you know,” said Hargro. “It felt like everybody was just asleep. Everybody was just walking around”
Moments later, the junior struck on defense with a leaping block on Brentsville center Ben Hilsen.
But Kettle Run only managed three points after the dunk in the third quarter. Sophomore David Hammond (8 points) had responded with a jumper from the foul-line that negated the slam. Hilsen (14 points) got even later by plowing over Hargro with pure upper body strength on his way to two more points.
The Tigers’ collapse began from their first trip to the line in the fourth quarter with four missed free-throws within the first 85 seconds.
“We told them in the fourth quarter timeout, we’re still in it. Even with the mistakes we were making, I didn’t think they were converting on our mistakes. So that kept us in the game and we used that as a motivational thing,” said Kettle Run coach Troy Washington.
By the end of the quarter, Brentsville wound end up missing eight of nine free throws. While Kettle Run was not perfect from the line, they converted when they needed to the most.
“I really think the turning point was when they picked up the intentional foul,” said Washington.
Officials called sophomore Conner Murphy for a technical foul about two minutes into the fourth quarter after he bulldozed his way over the Kettle Run inbounds receiver. Coach Washington sent Hargro to the line where he made one of his two shots and the Cougars maintained possession of the ball.
“I actually called the kids over and told them, ‘This might be the turning point right here. We’ve got to convert here. We’ll get the ball back and we’ll convert and then we’ll take our chances,’” said Washington.
Back to back hoops from Brian Mills (16 points) and Massei (14 points) brought the Cougars within a single basket at 44-41. Though Brentsville reclaimed a six-point lead, layups from Massei and some inside work by Hargro paved the way for Kettle Run to come back within one point before the 2:31 mark.
Mills captured the first Kettle Run lead with 1:47 remaining and a four-of-six performance from the foul line brought the Cougar advantage up to 52-47.
Brentsville junior Justin Weaver (15 points) made things interesting with his third three-pointer of the night, closing the gap to two points. But another two game-breaking free throws by Spencer Carter (10 points) and one more from Massei with 9.3 second left on the clock put Brentsville into do or die time.
Strangely, the game ended on a Brentsville bucket. The only problem was the Cougar coverage around Weaver forced a pass to Hilsen, who put it up for two points.
The buzzer sounded once the ball hit the floor.
And that was it.
Kettle Run, in its first year of existence, secured the final spot in the playoffs.
“Some of the things that happened in the fourth quarter period were kind of an example of where the season’s gone for us,” said Tiger coach Chris Southcott.
“We were a little quicker, so we were able to outrun them,” said Massei. “So we were able to get past them off the rebound, get a quick outlet, and get around them because some of their guys are taller and a little bit slower.”
Added Brentsville’s Hammond, “They didn’t come out that strong, but they finished strong for sure.”
For Tiger players and coaches, they’ll now have the entire off-season to figure out what went wrong with a team that had such great chemistry.
“This group of kids, as a group, is still the most fun group of kids we’ve ever had,” said Southcott.
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