Late Minco bucket spoils Hunt’s Hennessey debut

As coach Dallas Hunt said, “it came down to one play.”

Unfortunately for Hunt and the Eagles, the play belonged to Minco.

The visiting Bulldogs spoiled Hunt’s HHS coaching debut last Tuesday with a 43-42 victory at the Eagle Event Center.

Minco’s Jose Martinez sliced through the Eagle defense for a layup to give his team the game winner with just under two seconds left.

After a timeout, Hennessey was unable to get off a good look before the buzzer sounded.

“We didn’t get the outcome we were looking for, but the guys played hard,” said Hunt, commending his defense specifically. “I think anytime you are able to hold a team to 43 points, you have done a tremendous job on the defensive end.”

But the Eagles had their own offensive struggles, especially in the first half when they scored just 13 points.

Hagen Copeland got them going in the third quarter by scoring all nine of his points.

Hennessey was able to cut its deficit to just one point.

The game was tied with under 20 seconds to play when Minco’s Carson Littlejohn was fouled.

He made one of two to give his team a one-point advantage, but Hennessey’s Camdyn Richardson tied it on the other end by sinking a free throw with 14.8 to play.

Beau Vinson ignited the crowd as he stole a pass at midcourt with 12 seconds left, then drove to the basket.

The freshman was fouled with 8.6 seconds left and the game knotted up.

He missed his first foul shot, but made the second, giving Hennessey a 42-41 advantage.

But it was only temporary. Martinez took the inbounds pass and went end to end to lift his team to victory.

Martinez led all scorers with 15 points.

Richardson scored 12 for the Eagles while Hunter Weber chipped in 11. Eight of Weber’s points were in the second half.

Minco gets hot, beats Lady Eagles

A red-hot Laney Harris and a dominant fourth quarter helped Minco hand the Hennessey Lady Eagles a defeat in their season opener.

Minco broke open a close game with an 18-5 closeout to defeat HHS 52-32 last Tuesday at the Eagle Event Center.

Harris nailed seven 3-pointers and scored 29 points for the visitors.

Two of those treys and seven points came in the decisive fourth when Minco broke open what was a 3427 game.

“We were good going into the fourth and it just sort of fell apart,” said second-year coach Brian Richardson. “If it could go wrong, it did.”

Hennessey held Harris without a field goal and led 11-7 after a quarter.

Clare Munroe and Ally Painter combined for nine of Hennessey’s points.

But then Harris nailed three treys in the second quarter. She made two more in each the third and fourth.

Hennessey, still without the services of Katie Kennedy, couldn’t keep up.

Munroe led the team with 11 points.

Painter and Joselyn Roman scored six points apiece.