By CHARLES PENDELL
charles.pendell@mcleansborotimesleader.com
McLEANSBORO — With a reputation for slowing the game down in recent years, Hamilton County cracked the 80-point barrier Friday night in a home win over archrival Eldorado.
In the third meeting of the season between the two teams, Hamilton County used a run-and-gun offense, with four Foxes scoring in double figures in the 83-70 victory.
The Webb twins led the Foxes, Justin with 22 points and Brandon with 17. Duke Griesemer chipped in with another double-double as he scored 14 points and controlled the glass, pulling down 17 boards. Steven Lemmons added 11 points.
The four Foxes offset the Eagles’ Cody Lane, who led all scorers with 34 points, and Cody Johnston, who added 23. Lane hit six three-pointers.
In the last meeting between the two rivals, the Foxes dominated the Eagles 48-24 to win the fifth-place trophy at the Eldorado Holiday Tournament. In that matchup, only two Eagles scored — Lane with 21 points and Johnston with three.
Lane got the Eagles off to a fast start with three early treys, but Brandon Webb’s trey narrowed the Eagle lead to 11-9. The Eagles went on a 5-0 run, but a minihook from Justin Webb with 2.3 seconds showing in the first quarter cut the margin to 16-13.
In the second quarter, the Foxes went on a 5-0 run to take a 20-18 lead as Justin Webb found Lemmons behind the Eagle defense for a layup and Griesemer threw a bullet pass to a sprinting Justin Webb for the “deuce and abuse,” successfully completing the three-point play.
Eldorado came right back with a 5-0 run — including Lane’s fourth trey — to ease ahead 23-20.
The Foxes then stormed ahead 28-23 with an 8-0 run, as Griesemer had two rebound baskets, while Justin Webb and Adam Irvin cashed in two free throws each. The Foxes led 31-27 at the half.
Hamilton County led 37-31 with 5:11 left in the third quarter when Eldorado went on a 5-0 run — including the fifth trey by Lane — to shave the lead to one, 37-36.
The Foxes’ big men then began to assert themselves, as Griesemer hit a 5-footer, Justin Webb hit a jumper from the lane, Lemmons hit one of two from the line, Brandon Webb tickled the twine with a trey, while a layup by Justin Webb and two free throws by Brandon Webb sent the Fox lead to 49-38 with 2:47 left in the third. The Foxes led 54-45 after three quarters.
In the final frame, Eldorado cut the Fox lead to seven twice, but each time the Foxes went to their inside game and the lead went back up to 10.
With less than four minutes left, Lane scored on an inside basket to cut the lead to nine, but then picked up his fifth foul and exited the game with 2:50 remaining.
After Lane sat down, Johnston came to life for the Eagles, hitting four inside shots; two free throws from Brandon Webb and one from Clint Hopfinger had the Foxes clinging to a 72-68 advantage with 1:55 to go.
Eldorado began to foul at that point, and their main target, Justin Webb, hit four-of-six free throws. Brandon Webb made a steal and went in for the score but was fouled intentionally, and he added two more from the line to give the Foxes some breathing room at 80-70 with 55 ticks left.
A total of five Eldorado players fouled out in the game.
Other Foxes to score were Hopfinger with seven points, Aaron Cravens with six and Robert Rubenacker and Irvin with two each.
The Foxes were 27-of-42 from the free throw line.
“Tonight the effort was there for sure,” Fox coach Curt Reed said. “Eldorado beat Carmi, so I knew they were going to be a handful, and they are using Lane a little differently. I knew we would be in for a pickle, but we prevailed.”
The Foxes (11-11) will travel to Vienna on Friday night and to the Nashville Shootout on Saturday, taking on Columbia at 6 p.m. The Foxes return home to the Den on Tuesday, taking on Fairfield.
