Hampshire survives Woodstock North

It was an atmosphere conducive to an upset: a sleepy Saturday matinee on the road in a sparsely filled, cavernous gymnasium against a hungry, young Woodstock North boys basketball team.

Though Hampshire didn't gain further separation in the fourth quarter due to 7 turnovers, the Whip-Purs nevertheless did enough offensively to protect a 10-point halftime lead and avert the upset with a 53-42 Fox Valley Conference Fox Division victory.

Hampshire (12-2, 2-0) used defense to ignite its offense, particularly in the second quarter when the Whip-Purs turned a 2-point deficit into a 7-point advantage via an 11-2 run.

Senior Drew Doran opened that surge with a go-ahead 3-pointer, and sophomore Brennen Woods highlighted it with a steal he converted into a breakaway, right-handed dunk.

"We just had to lock down on defense because there's no other way to get a lead than that," said Woods, who finished with 14 points.

Hampshire often fed the ball into the middle against the 2-3 zone defense played by Woodstock North (3-11, 0-3). The Whips capitalized on their size advantage in the paint with 6-foot-2 Matt Bridges (20 points, 5 rebounds), 6-5 senior forward Jake Tuttle (6 points) and 6-5 junior Luke Tuttle (4 points).

"Coach (Bob Barnett) just wanted us to move the ball and get everyone open shots and work it down low because we had height advantages," Luke Tuttle said. "Everyone was doing well and clicking today so it was a good performance."

Josh Jandron, the only senior starter for Woodstock North, led the Thunder with 19 points, including four 3-pointers in seven attempts. Junior guard Collin Mergl (6-3) finished with 17 points, but only two other players dented the scoring column for the home team.

"Defensively, our goal is 12 points a quarter," Woodstock North coach Steve Ryan said. "We're right there. Offensively, we've got to get more kids involved."

Hampshire led 25-15 at the half and opened the third quarter with an 11-4 run to take its biggest lead of the game at 36-19 on a pair of free throws by Bridges, who made 7 of 10 from the line.

The Thunder pulled with 11 points with 5:10 to play on a jumper by junior guard Caleb Labude, but Bridges answered with a 3-pointer to maintain a double-digit lead.