Hardwood Heroes
Federal Hocking Picks Up Huge Road Win Over Waterford
By: Grayson Wolf, Maria Monesi
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WASHINGTON, Ohio (WOUB) — On Tuesday night Federal Hocking traveled to Waterford for a battle between the second and third ranked teams in the TVC-Hocking. It was a tournament worthy atmosphere with a packed crowd that had energy and passion all night long. This made for a great and physical basketball game that had it all.
The Lancers came out of the gate strong as Tariq Cottrill scored six points in the first quarter and Fed Hock had a 14-9 lead at the end of the quarter. In the first eight minutes there were sings of how this game was going to be, physical. Both teams were aggressive on defense and for the most part the referees were letting them play.
In the second quarter Waterford made a comeback with the help of Holden Daily and Gaibe Ponchak as they both had five in the quarter. The Wildcats went into the locker room only down two, 26-24.
Both teams came out after the break strong. Holden Dailey had another strong quarter as he had eight in the third. Andrew Airhart matched Dailey’s point total with eight of his own in the quarter. The fouls also picked up in the third as they combined for ten free throws in the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, it was closing time. Lane Smith and the Lancers knew just that. Smith attacked the hoop and went to the free throw line 12 times, sank eight of them and finished with 10 points in the final frame.
Midway through the fourth quarter Dailey fouled out of the game and the Wildcat offense took a hit. Dailey was only able to muster two points before fouling out. The Lancers took this game by a final score of 66-57.
One of the many bright spots for the Lancers was Andre Crockwell. Crockwell is a transfer that was not allowed to play the first eleven games due to the OHSAA transfer rule. On Tuesday he finished with 13 points. He is a secondary ball handler that comes off the bench for head coach Jonathan Thompson.
Thompson had this to say about Crockwell,
“We got a lot of things to reign in with him, he comes from a different atmosphere as far as where he’s played in the past. We play more of a system style ball and try to keep things under control which he’s learning, he’s practiced with us a few weeks now… To have him on this ball team, we get him reigned in and bought into the system he can be huge for us.”
Smith led the way in scoring for the Lancers with 15 points, Crockwell followed behind with 13, Airhart with 12, and Cottrill finished with 11.
Federal Hocking moves to 15-3 overall and 9-0 in the TVC-Hocking.