By CHARLES PENDELL
charles.pendell@mcleansborotimesleader.com
JOHNSTON CITY — Coach Wade Thomas’ Indians took a little air out of the basketball for most of the first half against his former school and coach on Friday night.
Thomas, a former Hamilton County player and junior varsity coach, learned the tactic from current Fox coach Curt Reed, and it worked for about a quarter-and-a-half. But then the Foxes took over on their way to a 39-33 victory.
Hamilton County’s win secured a first-place tie with Carmi for the Black Diamond Conference East championship; each team finished with an 8-2 conference record.
Senior guard Robert Rubenacker led the Fox attack in the regular-season finale, draining three treys and five free throws for 14 points. Teammate Clint Hopfinger chipped in nine points, five rebounds and two steals.
The game was scoreless for more than four minutes before Johnston City finally got on the board with an inside jumper with 3:38 left in the first quarter. The Foxes scored the next five and led 5-4 after one quarter.
Johnston City hit a trey to begin the second frame to regain the lead. But Hopfinger and Aaron Cravens each hit 3-pointers and Rubenacker hit back-to-back treys as the Foxes went in leading 17-11 at the half.
The Foxes pushed their lead to 22-13 to begin the third period on an inside bucket by center Duke Griesemer and Rubenacker’s third trey.
The Indians got as close as four in the quarter and went into the final frame trailing 25-20.
Two Hopfinger free throws gave the Foxes their largest lead of the night at 30-20.
Johnston City made one more run, cutting the Fox lead to 34-30 with 40.5 ticks left. The Indians fouled Cravens, who hit one of two free throws but came away with a steal and passed to Rubenacker, who was fouled.
Rubenacker also hit one free throw, but the Indians then turned the ball over on a traveling violation.
With 17.3 seconds left, the Indians fouled Adam Irvin, who sank both charity tosses to put the Foxes on top 38-30.
Johnston City hit a trey with 8.6 seconds showing and called its last timeout.
The Indians quickly fouled Hopfinger, who hit his first shot but missed his second attempt. The ball bounced out and Hopfinger pulled down the rebound as the horn sounded, giving the Foxes the 39-33 victory.
Other Fox scorers were Griesemer, four points, four boards and four steals; Cravens, four points and two steals; Justin Webb, three points and two boards; Steven Lemmons, three points and two boards; and Irvin, two points two boards. Brandon Webb also played but did not score.
The Foxes were 16-of-22 from the free throw line.
“If it hadn’t been for our free throws and our five threes, we would have been in a pickle,” Reed said. “There’s no question about it, their guys played a little harder since it was senior parent night for them and their last home game.
“Our guys were playing against a former Fox player and a former Fox coach, and I knew they would be cranked up for us,” Reed added.
His team appeared to come into the game a little overconfident, he said.
“And what happens a lot of times when that happens, when you wake up, it’s too late,” Reed said. “Fortunately, we had kids step up and shoot the ball and put it in the hole for us tonight.”
The Foxes, he said, “had some golden opportunities, but we didn’t capitalize on them.”
“Wade tried to slow things down and take his time, but sometimes that is not the best thing to do, because we were ahead and we decided to take our time and either get a layup or get fouled,” Reed said. “And we had our free throw shooters in the game.”
Regional play started this week, with the second-seeded Foxes set to take on third-seeded Carmi at the Harrisburg Regional at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, after the Times-Leader deadline this week.
The winner advances to the championship game at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
