RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
The state-ranked Blackhawk Christian Braves brought their helter-skelter style of play to the Heritage gym Tuesday night, pressing and fast breaking their way to a 17-7 first-quarter lead and a 64-46 win over the Patriots.
The Braves, ranked 7th in the USA 3A poll and 12th in the AP version, disrupted the Patriot offensive rhythm from the opening tip with a full-court press. They made five fast break layups in the period while harassing Heritage into 3-of-14 shooting.
“We have a lot of guys who can get out and compete and guard, so we really have to try to force the tempo with that,” said Blackhawk coach Matt Roth. “We don’t want to sit back and play passive. We have too much talent and athleticism to do that. We wanted to get out and pressure, get up and down, create some organized chaos, so to speak, and I thought we did that.”
Blackhawk’s 6-10 senior center, Kellen Pickett, scored 11 of his game-high 29 points in the first quarter, two coming on a baseline drive and dunk at the 1:09 mark. Junior guard Briggs Pardon scored the other six points for the Braves (5-1) on two fast break layups and a pair of free throws.
Pickett scored nine points in the second quarter to lead the Braves to a 13-6 edge and a 30-13 halftime lead.
Heritage coach Kyle Sovine was understandably not pleased with his team’s first half. “Just a little disappointed with our start in the first half,” he said. “I just felt that we were not ready to go. A lot of the stuff on the scouting report was not executed.”
His locker room lecture focused on his team’s choices after getting dominated in the first half. He told his team there were two ways to respond: “Sit over here and roll over, or the second way is to get back to our principles and do what we can do and keep fighting back.”
The Patriots (4-2) chose the second option.
Landon Lybarger and LanTae Cassel hit back-to-back threes to open the third quarter and spark a 9-2 Heritage run that got the Patriots within 10 at 32-22. Though the Braves responded with an 8-2 run of their own—Pickett scoring four on a turnaround jumper and another dunk—the Pats still won the quarter, 15-14, to make it 44-28.
The Patriots continued their rejuvenated play in the fourth quarter, giving up just a two-point edge to the Braves, 20-18. Lybarger led the charge with seven points in the period.
Sovine liked that turnaround. “Yeah, I thought we battled back in the second half,” he said. “Basketball is a game of runs; you just have to stay at it.”
Roth knew the Patriots were better than they showed in the first half. “They’ve got the talent, and they play hard,” he said, “so we knew we were going to take their best punch. Thankfully for us it wasn’t until that third quarter, so I was proud of how we responded to that.”
Sovine, in his second year at the helm of the Patriots, has beefed up his team’s schedule, adding Blackhawk and Snider last year, North Side and Northrop this year. “It’s good for you come sectional time,” he said of the challenging competition. “In February and March it helps you.”
Heritage made 14-of-31 twos (45%), 4-of-16 threes (25%), and 6-of-9 free throws (67%). Blackhawk went 25-for-42 on twos (60%), 2-for-14 on threes (14%), and 8-for-9 on free throws (89%).
Cassel and Lybarger led the Patriots with 14 points each. Taurean Brown added 10, Lucas Taylor four, Davian Bates two, Braden Walter and Beau Stoppenhagen one.
Pardon ended with 12 for Blackhawk. Bryce LaCross had nine, Luke Mansfield six. Drake Sefton, Kyler Wood, Payton Rhinehart, and Jaeden O’Neal each scored two.
Heritage will start its ACAC schedule by hosting South Adams Friday night before traveling to Northrop for an afternoon game Saturday, starting at 2:30.
Girls’ side falls in opener of doubleheader
Tuesday night was actually a varsity doubleheader, with the girls playing ahead of the boys at Heritage. The visiting Braves got the night started for the visitors with a 72-28 victory over the Patriots.
Danica Fuller’s return from injury helped the home team with depth against a very good Blackhawk side, who came in at 4-6 after a loss to Southern Wells over the weekend.
Malea Steele was the best player on the court throughout the game for either team. The Holy Cross commit knocked down three shots in each of the four quarters to lead all scorers with 26 points.
Blackhawk took an 18-7 lead into the second quarter and the Patriots went cold, scoring just one bucket in that period and falling behind 40-11.
Audra Bickel had a big third quarter for the home team, knocking down four shots and Olivia Lybarger nailed her second three of the contest to kick-start the offense in the second half, but the Patriots were still outscored by Blackhawk in the third and the Braves went on to win 72-28.
Bickel led the Patriots in scoring, knocking down the team’s only two free throws, with 12 points.
Ten different Braves made the scoring column, led by Steele’s 26.
Blackhawk will play at Canterbury on Friday night, while the Patriots will go to Woodlan for an ACAC game Saturday.
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