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Big Blue’s late surge falls short against East

Missed free throws still costly as Hamilton falls 61-54.

Hamilton sophomore Quintin Bailey puts up a tough shot during Friday's game against Lakota East at Hamilton High School. Bailey had 10 points in Big Blue's loss. Contributed photo by Robert Leifheit

Leifheit Hamilton sophomore Quintin Bailey puts up a tough shot during Friday's game against Lakota East at Hamilton High School. Bailey had 10 points in Big Blue's loss. Contributed photo by Robert Leifheit

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By Jay Morrison, Staff Writer 1:45 AM Saturday, February 4, 2012

HAMILTON — Offensively challenged for three quarters, the Hamilton and Lakota East boys basketball teams finally found their touch during the final eight minutes Friday night.

Big Blue made five of their first six shots in the final frame, while the visiting Thunderhawks knocked seven of eight to turn a plodding, ho-hum affair into a sharp-shooting sprint.

But the hottest hand of all belonged East freshman Dylan Lowry, who hit 3-pointers on three successive trips up the floor to help the Thunderhawks separate for a 61-54 victory to spoil Hamilton’s Hall of Fame night.

“My teammates did a really good job of finding me when I was open after I hit the first one,” said Lowry, who finished with a career-high 11 points. “After those first two, you just want to catch it and shoot it.”

The win snapped a six-game losing streak for East (6-11, 3-8 Greater Miami Conference), while Hamilton (3-14, 1-10) saw its skid extend to six.

“(Lowry) hit some big shots,” Big Blue coach Tim Robinson said. “We had a couple of defensive lapses where we lunged by him and let him get wide open, and obviously he’s capable of sticking them.”

By the time the fourth-quarter onslaught that saw 47 combined points was finished, both teams had four players in double figures.

Junior Zach Panzeca, who scored all 10 of his team’s first-quarter points, finished with 12 to lead East, with junior Robbie Harping matching Lowry with 11 and sophomore Eric Eichler adding a career-high 10 in his varsity debut.

“We’ve had a few losses in a row, but the fact I’m most proud of is our young guys haven’t got discouraged,” East coach Wally Vickers said.

“I thought we came out tonight with a great mentality and showed some toughness. We said we were never going to use our youth as an excuse, and we haven’t.”

Hamilton got 12 points from sophomore Christian Jones, 11 from senior Breon Boyd and 10 each from senior Torrell Sutton and sophomore Quintin Bailey.

But as hot as Big Blue was from the floor in the fourth quarter, their struggles at the free throw line continued. The hosts made just 5-of-15 free ones in the final frame.

“You have to make free throws when you’re down, especially when you want to set up pressure and try to get a steal, but we always seemed to miss the second of the two shots,” Robinson said. “It’s been a season-long thing, and it’s not just one or two people. It seems like it’s everybody.

“People probably think we don’t (practice) them, but we do shoot free throws. “

Hamilton finished 11-of-25 in the game and is now just 119-of-247 (48 percent) for the season.

East missed the front end of all three one-and-one chances in the fourth quarter and made just 3-of-8 down the stretch, but Lowry’s treys were enough to offset that.

“Some of these young guys are really starting to grow up,” Vickers said.

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