North Harrison’s boys have had an up and down season, with each night depending on which team shows up. Previously, the boys had a forgettable loss to Trenton in the GRC Showcase, handing the Bulldogs their only win of the season. But against East Harrison, which played the Shamrocks tough in Bethany back in January, North Harrison pulled away for an 82-59 win behind 35 points from Wade Briggs and an incredible 65 boards from the whole team.
Right off the bat, it was obvious the Shamrocks wanted to do better than they did the previous game as Brandon Hamilton got a putback, Nick Babinski got a free throw, Brandon Hamilton kept a possession alive with an offensive board and found Briggs for a driving layup, and Nick converted a fourth chance putback to make it 7-0.
It didn’t matter that East Harrison had Mark Willis, who is 6’6” and can dunk; the Shamrocks were flying to the glass early and often. The teams traded buckets the rest of the quarter before Hamilton found Nick Babinski backdoor to make it 20-9 at the start of the second.
East Harrison began fighting back at the start of the second as Owan Roberson scored four straight and Willis scored off a steal to make it 20-15. But then Hamilton got a putback and Wade Briggs got loose in transition to make it 23-15 with 5:21 left in the second. Garrett Baker brought the Bobcats within six at 25-19, but Hamilton got putbacks on consecutive possessions to spark the Shamrocks again as they pushed ahead to a 33-23 lead at halftime.
Perhaps the Little Rocks’ halftime performance gave the boys good luck, for after Mark Willis got the Bobcats to within 35-27 to start the third, Wade Briggs hit the Bobcats with a flurry, hitting three straight triples to make it 44-27. Owan Roberson countered for the orange shirts, but Keygun Johnson hit a 3-pointer, Wade Briggs hit his fourth of the quarter, Nick Babinski got a steal, Wade Briggs hit a free throw, missed one, but Cooper Cracraft kept the possession alive and hit Briggs for three to make it 56-31 at the 1:21 mark of the third.
Willis and the Bobcats did all they could to try to get back in the game; he had 12 in the first 4:30 of the fourth quarter as they twice cut it to 19, but Wade Briggs continued to have the hot hand in the fourth quarter and Tyson Gibson chipped in six to keep the Shamrocks in control.
Wade Briggs had 35 points for the Shamrocks. Nick Babinski had 13, Tyson Gibson 10, Brandon Hamilton 9, Keygun Johnson 7, Matthew Heintz 4, and Cooper Cracraft and Kolton Graham 2.
It was no one player for North Harrison who contributed the 65 boards; four different Shamrocks got 10 or more boards in the game. Nick Babinski had 13 boards, Keygun Johnson 12, Tyson Gibson 11, Cooper Cracraft 10, Brandon Hamilton 9, Wade Briggs 5, Matthew Heintz 4, and Jerry Gilpatrick 1.
Cooper Cracraft had 8 assists. Keygun Johnson had 5, Wade Briggs 4, Brandon Hamilton 3, Nick Babinski 2, and Evan Schreiber 1.
Nick Babinski had 6 tips. Brandon Hamilton had 3, Tyson Gibson 2, and Wade Briggs, Matthew Heintz, Keygun Johnson, Cole Kampman, and Evan Schreiber 1 each.
Nick Babinski had 6 steals. Tyson Gibson and Wade Briggs had 3 each and Keygun Johnson 2.
The boys lost 49-44 Saturday to Mercer in districts to end their season.
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