Hampshire falls to Sycamore

When the ball left Will Bush's hands, it felt good.

The Hampshire guard chucked a prayer nearly 3-quarters of the court, looking like the shot was going to fall.

But, Bush's near game-winner bounced in and out of the rim, as the Whip-Purs dropped their season opener 55-53 to host Sycamore in the 45th Annual Leland G. Strombom boy's basketball tournament Wednesday night.

"It felt good," said Bush, who finished with all 9 of his points in the second half. "We came out pretty strong in the second half. If we would have come out in the first half like we did in the second half, then we would have done better."

Hampshire trailed 34-25 at halftime, thanks in large part to six 3-pointers from Sycamore (1-0). The Whips did everything they could to claw back into Wednesday night's action. Hampshire was 11 of 23 from the floor in the second half and outscored Sycamore 28-19, while limiting the Spartans to 8 of 17 from the field.

Mike Kozenczak (13 points, 3 steals) put Hampshire within 1 possession when he spilt a pair of free throws to make it 54-51 with 1:18 left to play. After forcing a missed layup from Sycamore's Harlan Johnson (17 points) with 41 seconds remaining, Shyler Ralphs nabbed the rebound, which set up a possible game-tying possession.

Unfortunately for the Whips, they were never able to get a good look at a 3-pointer and they wasted 17 seconds before Bush (3 blocks) drove to the hoop to bring Hampshire with 54-53. But there was just 13 seconds left to play.

"It took us 17 seconds to get a shot off," Hampshire coach Bob Barnett said. "That was a problem. We played with it too much outside. We wanted a quick (basket)."

Needing to foul, Hampshire put Kyle Szychlinski to the line with 3 ticks on the clock. Szychlinski made the first, with Bush grabbing the rebound on the second and heaving it towards the basket.

James Goebbert (10 points) and Justin Bieber (16 points) were both in double digits for the Whips, while Ralphs added 6 assists and 3 steals.