Whitcomb Boys Win Another

By Laurie-Jean B. Gauthier

Whitcomb Hornet Deven Hill nabbed the opening hoop against the Huskies in Cabot, and held on to the ball for the final possession of the game, as the Hornets buzzed by their hosts for their second victory of the season last Friday, Jan. 25, 66-62.

Hill scored the first basket of the game that put Whitcomb up for one-and-one-half minutes before Cabot tied the game, and then went up by two. It was a game that had both teams battling for bragging rights. Hill retied the game, and baskets by Clemens Garve and Damian Russo had Whitcomb up by three. The Hornet lead was erased before Whitcomb responded with six unanswered points. The first period ended with a five-point edge in favor of the Hornets, 14-0.

Cabot returned and erased the five-point Hornet lead in just one minute. Russo scored for Whitcomb, before Cabot went on a mini-streak that put them up in a big way with three treys. Down by 10, with two-and-a-half minutes remaining before the break, the Hornets managed to cut the Husky lead to six. Joel Wright scored the last basket of the period for a 29-26 point half.

Garve scored the first basket of the third period cutting the lead to one, but a Hale three put the Huskies right back where they were. Hill tied the game with two plus one on the next possession, and Whitcomb went up by two when Matt Durfee connected. The scoring went back-and-forth with Bethel’s Hill and Tyler Killian both scoring two baskets, Russo nabbed one hoop, and Durfee added one from the line, but at the whistle, Cabot remained up by three, 46-43, entering the fourth.

The fourth quarter was nothing but net as Whitcomb came out with a purpose. Hill scored the first hoop back in, and Matt Prucha’s put-back tied the game at 7:00. Hale’s hoop put the Huskies back up by two, before the Hornets poured it on.

It was "downtown" time, as the Hornets tied the game and then went up by seven, with three unanswered three-point swish, swish, swishes, the first one by Russo, then Hill and then by Russo again. Cabot’s second mini-spurt of the game tied things back up, 58-all, with 3:30 on the clock. There was another tie at 1:45, and again at 1:15. A Durfee basket and two foul shots gave the Hornets a 66-62 edge with 35 seconds to go. The Hornets held on for the well-fought and well-deserved victory.

Whitcomb did a super job in a very trying outing that had the Hornets laden with fouls as they finished the first period with six and the first half with 14. Less than one minute back from the break, Garve was relegated to the bench with his fifth personal, and Russo and Wright weren’t far behind. Wright took a seat with less than two minutes remaining in the game, while Russo, Durfee and Hill all managed to survive until the final whistle.

Husky’s Justin Hale was high-scorer with 27 points. Hornet’s Hill had 21 points, Russo had 16 and Durfee finished with an even dozen.

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