Hampshire plays tough but falls to 0-3

Hampshire's valiant comeback attempt fell just short.

Rockford Jefferson blitzed the Whip-Purs' boys basketball team with a 31-point first quarter outburst, shooting 13-of-18 from the field while forcing 9 turnovers.

The Whip-Purs regrouped to narrow the gap to 47-37 at halftime and finally forged in front 56-54 early in the fourth quarter.

However, the J-Hawks responded with a 10-point run of their own and held off the Whip-Purs 75-66 Friday night at the Sycamore Leland G. Strombom Tournament.

Senior guard Luke Tuttle tallied 16 of his game-high 20 points in the first half for Hampshire (0-3) while junior Brennan Woods connected on four 3-pointers in an 18-point performance.

"I'm extremely proud of how hard we played," said Hampshire coach Ben Whitehouse. "We'd rather be 3-0, but in terms of how we're competing, how we're preparing and how we're playing, I'm very happy."

Hampshire stayed within 16-11 midway through the opening quarter, before the J-Hawks (3-0), who play Burlington Central at 7:30 p.m. Saturday for the championship, pulled away with a 15-2 run highlighted by a trio of 3-pointers.

"We want to play fast, but we can't replicate that type of speed in practice," Whitehouse said. "They hit five 3s in the first quarter and we talked how that's not what they'll do for the next three quarters. It's just a matter of adjusting, closing out on shooters and then taking care of the ball."

The Whip-Purs did just that in the second quarter with Tuttle completing a conventional 3-point play, followed by a 3-pointer from the top to close the gap to 35-27.

Hampshire went on a 13-3 run over the final 4 minutes of the third quarter, with Deion Garcia (15 points) hitting a 3-pointer, followed by a pair of trifectas from Woods. Nathan Cook's driving layup evened the score at 54-54.

Danny Duchaj basket put the Whip-Purs in front briefly, but the J-Hawks hit back-to back 3s to stem the tide.

"We were down early in the game, but we got our momentum going pretty good," Woods said. "Things just didn't go our way in the beginning of the fourth quarter."

Kavean Rogers paced Jefferson with 19 points while Quillin Dixon contributed 14.

Duchaj finished with 7 points for Hampshire, which will play Dundee-Crown (0-3) in the 7th-place game Saturday at 3 p.m.