Hampshire knocks off Belvidere
The Hampshire boys basketball team wanted to get off to a good start in Pool B play Monday in the 83rd annual Chuck Dayton Tournament hosted by DeKalb.
With “way, way, way difficult” matchups coming up against Rockford East and Chicago Vocational according to coach Bob Barnett, the Whip-Purs needed to take advantage of a game with Belvidere, a team which had lost five straight.
Hampshire jumped out early, trailed for only 13 seconds and beat the Bucs, 57-48, in a game played at Hampshire.
“It's going to be pretty tough coming up,” Hampshire's Shane Hernandez said. “We knew we had to come out strong.”
Belvidere (4-6) led 4-2 with 6:35 left in the first quarter after back-to-back baskets from Cody Colquett. But the Whip-Purs (6-2), who have now won six straight, quickly answered with a Pat Azizi 3-pointer less than 15 seconds later for a 5-4 lead. Hampshire never trailed again.
The Whip-Purs led 19-11 after the first quarter and 32-20 at halftime. Belvidere's 2-3 zone kept the ball from going inside to 6-foot-7 Tyler Watzlawick and 6-6 Hernandez for the most part. The outside shooting helped Hampshire increase the lead.
Azizi hit three 3-pointers in the first half and Tyler Crater and Jeremy Yoder each had one 3-pointer.
“We came out slow, but settled in and got used to their zone,” Hernandez said. “Just worked the ball around and got good looks.”
Hampshire increased the lead to 20, 42-22, in the third quarter before the Bucs made a run late in the quarter to get within 10, 45-35, heading to the fourth. Hernandez and Azizi scored early in fourth to get the lead back to 14 and the Whip-Purs lead stayed in double figures until a late Belvidere basket by Zak Knutson.
“We've moved the ball well in the half court,” said Barnett of the team's six-game win streak. “It's the full court part that we've really got to get figured out.”
Hampshire committed 22 turnovers, 12 in the second half, with several of those coming as the Bucs pressed.
Hernandez scored 12 of his game-high 16 points in the second half. The sophomore also added 8 rebounds. Azizi added 14 points and Crater had 10. Watzlawick added 8 points and 6 rebounds.
Bobby Pester led the Bucs with 13 points.