Columbia Star

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Falcons soar past Skyhawks



Ben Lippen’s Emmanuel Hughes attempts a shot while being surrounded by Hammond’s Boogie Huntley, Andre Wilson, and... Photo by Jim Marczesky

Ben Lippen’s Emmanuel Hughes attempts a shot while being surrounded by Hammond’s Boogie Huntley, Andre Wilson, and… Photo by Jim Marczesky

The Falcons’ bigs, 6’–7” Alden Gibbs and 6’–8” Porter Stanley, held their ground in the paint and the Falcons’ scorers, guards Evan Werner and Ross Hartzog, dialed up threes all night as the Ben Lippen Falcons eclipsed the Hammond Skyhawks 54-48 Tuesday night, January 7.

Werner came off the bench in the second quarter for the Falcons and started pitching up threes, getting his team–high 15 points from long-range. Hartzog’s 12 points also came from beyond the arc. Emmanuel Hughes added 11 for the Falcons.

The Skyhawks’ Tucker Toman led all scorers with 20 points, which included six threes. Jordan Burch contributed 16 for the Skyhawks.

The Falcons jumped to an 11-7 first quarter lead on a pair of threes from Hartzog, another from Stanley, and a short jumper from Gibbs. Burch provided all the first quarter scoring for Hammond.

Ben Lippen built a 29-18 halftime lead as the hosts got threes from Hartzog, Hughes, Werner, and Beltrain Huertas. Toman started to find the range for Hammond in the second quarter to keep the Skyhawks close at halftime.

The Falcons built a 36-21 lead early in the third quarter before Hammond went to work on a 16-3 run to close the gap to four at 39-35 with just under three minutes to go in the quarter. Toman got four threes during that run. But threes from Werner and Hartzog and a pair of free throws from Hughes stemmed the tide and gave the Falcons a 47-39 lead going to the fourth.

The teams went 0-for-9 from the floor to open the final quarter before a three from Werner gave the Falcons their biggest lead at 50-39 with 5:10 left in the game. The Skyhawks chopped away getting to within four at 52-48 with just over a minute to go on two free throws from Burch and a layup from Toman. Two free throws from Hughes with just under a minute left gave the Falcons the final margin.

“I am really proud of the guys,” Ben Lippen head coach Kevin Carr said. “They executed the game plan really well. The entire team was committed to it and worked hard the entire 32 minutes. They were smart with the basketball and got stops when they needed stops.”

Hammond falls to 2-4 overall, 0-2 in SCISA play. Ben Lippen advances to 9-5 overall and 1-0 in region.

Ben Lippen: Evan Werner 15, Ross Hartzog 12, Emmanuel Hughes 11, Alden Gibb 6, Beltrain Huertas 3, Porter Stanley 3, Clayton Hunt 2, and Riley Reasons 2.

Hammond: Tucker Toman 20, Jordan Burch 16, Andre Wilson 8, Saul Diaz 2, and Bentley Yeats 2.

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