Big men lead Hampshire past Burlington Central
Different conferences, same fierce rivals.
Hampshire may have left Burlington Central and the Big Northern Conference for the Fox Valley Conference this season, but Saturday’s nonconference tilt nevertheless engendered the same intensity as their BNC backyard brawls of the past few decades.
In this season’s only installment of Rockets vs. Whip-Purs, host Hampshire prevailed 54-49 on Pack the Place night by taking care of the basketball and playing to its strengths, namely 6-foot-6 senior Tyler Watzlawick and 6-6 junior Shane Hernandez.
Using their size to their advantage, Hernandez scored 14 points and grabbed 8 rebounds and Watzlawick scored 10 points and pulled down 13 rebounds despite getting into second-quarter foul trouble due to a technical.
It was a much-needed win for highly regarded, veteran Hampshire, which had dropped 4 of its first 5 ballgames.
“That could be the highlight of my career,” said Watzlawick, a four-year varsity performer. “That was a big one. We were coming off a lot of losses we thought we should have won, so we wanted to get it started.
“And to beat Burlington the last time I’ll be playing them? That felt pretty good.”
Guards from Hampshire (2-4) passed the ball into the paint to their big men with regularity, particularly in the first half. Watzlawick scored 3 buckets before halftime and Hernandez scored 4 baskets from the paint in the second quarter alone.
“Being able to just lob the ball up to Watz, he can handle and turn around and see the floor,” Hampshire coach Bob Barnett said. “That helps a lot. That’s something we weren’t doing early.”
In a reversal of their recent woes, the Whip-Purs made only 5 turnovers in the first half by Barnett’s count.
“We’ve been working on things, slowing the ball down,” Hernandez said. “Turnovers were our biggest thing. We stayed calm and handled the pressure.”
Hampshire’s 2-3 zone defense kept Central (2-3) out of rhythm offensively most of the night. It wasn’t until the Rockets began driving the lane more regularly in the fourth quarter that they discovered their scoring touch. Central outscored Hampshire 18-14 in the final period.
“We knew we were going to go against a zone,” Central coach Brett Porto said. “Our guys really didn’t start penetrating until the end, and when they don’t penetrate they’re kind of useless out there. You saw the difference when we played by the seat of our pants guard-play-wise (in the fourth quarter). That’s what happens when we get after it and attack with penetration instead of standing around and letting them slow us down.”
The Rockets trimmed a 12-point third-quarter deficit to 49-45 with 1:15 to play on a 3-pointer from Ryan Ritchie (team-high 14 points), but Hampshire’s Brock Ralphs split 2 free throws and the Whips played good defense down the stretch. Tyler Crater and Watzlawick each blocked Central shots on the ensuing possession, and sophomore Ryan Cork capitalized with a transition layup with 45 seconds to play.
Hampshire shot only 11 of 20 from the free-throw line, but Central made only 8 of 20 attempts.
“When you go 8 of 20 from the line and you don’t attack and you let them dictate tempo ... it went their way,” Porto said. “We didn’t play well enough to win. They did some nice things. We’ll grow. we’ll be fine, and we’ll go from there.”