Alex Lazic | Mark Huber Photo
Jose Morales | Mark Huber Photo
Luke Blessing | Mark Huber Photo
Logan Camp | Mark Huber Photo
Mike Brown Jr. | Mark Huber Photo
Luke Blessing, Alex Lazic | Mark Huber Photo
Jose Morales | Mark Huber Photo
Luke Blessing | Mark Huber Photo
Mike Brown Jr. | Mark Huber Photo
Alex Lazic | Mark Huber Photo
Logan Camp, Luke Blessing | Mark Huber Photo
Hurricane on defense | Aaron Huber Photo
Mike Brown Jr., Luke Blessing | Mark Huber Photo
Jose Morales | Mark Huber Photo
Luke Blessing | Mark Huber Photo
Logan Camp | Mark Huber Photo
Mike Brown Jr. | Mark Huber Photo
Luke Blessing, Alex Lazic | Mark Huber Photo
Luke Blessing, Alex Lazic, Jose Morales | Mark Huber Photo
Luke Blessing | Matthew Butcher Photo
Bryson Platt | Matthew Butcher Photo
Jose Morales | Matthew Butcher Photo
Luke Blessing | Matthew Butcher Photo
WILMINGTON — Wilmington’s Luke Blessing and New Richmond’s Luke Abbott both hit the 30-point mark, but it was Abbott’s team who went on a 28-4 second half run to get the victory, 71-63, on Friday night at Fred Summers Court.
The Hurricane fall to 3-7 overall, 2-2 in the SBAAC and extend their losing streak to six. On Tuesday evening the ‘Cane will host Goshen High with the goal of replicating their early season 71-66 victory.
The victors now stand with a 7-5 cumulative record and possess the lone perfect 4-0 league record. The Lions will welcome Western Brown to their floor on Tuesday in a battle between two SBAAC heavyweights, as the Broncos sit with a 3-1 league including a win over Batavia Friday.
The reverse fixture between the two squads will see Wilmington make the long journey to the river on Feb. 10, the last regular season game for both teams.
Wilmington closed out a tight first half with five points to go up 39-34 at the break. Blessing stayed hot and nailed a three at the start of the third frame to help the ‘Cane build a 10-point lead. He scored 19 of his 30 in the first half. Despite momentum being on their side, the Hurricane’s 46-36 lead was erased over the course of the third quarter on the back of Abbott’s 32 points and a zone defense.
“Their 1-2-2 gave us some trouble. Our guys didn’t do a good job at taking care of the basketball in the second half. We allowed them to speed us up which caused some bad turnovers on our end. Our problem right now is consistently. I think we were up double digits twice, and then we got a little bit relaxed,” WHS head coach Jermaine Isaac said after the game.
Abbott hit a three for NR;s first lead of the night at 52-49, and it was all Lions from there. He sunk three after three and Rylan Utter controlled the paint for the bulk of the Lions’ 28-4 run,. Utter finished with 21.
The Hurricane had immense difficulty getting an offensive rebound and finding good shots amid sloppy ball security, and by the time they stopped the bleeding in the fourth, the scoreboard had them down double digits with too little time left.
“It’s about our kids being consistent and [not] doing uncharacteristic things and not learning from their mistakes,” Isaac said. “And letting things snowball … that’s going to be a process. Teaching the mental part of the game and the mental part of life is tough but our young guys are going to get it, they’re going to figure it out. We’ll be better for it.”
The Hurricane had a late, late surge, led by Blessing, and brought the lead down to as little as seven, but New Richmond sunk its free throws and took care of the ball enough to close out the game.
Alex Lazic scored a season-high 13 points before fouling out. Jose Morales scored 10.
“Goshen is a tough team, it’s another big game for us. We’ll make some adjustments and we’ll watch the film to learn from today. We just need to be better. They have two tough guards that are really good with a good supporting cast around them,” Isaac said.
The reserve Hurricane lost a close affair to the Lions, 51-49. Luke Achtermann hit a game-tying three from the corner with a minute left. Then Cohen Manning of New richmond made the game-winning free throws for the Lions. Achtermann finished with eight points, while freshmen Chase Fickert and Stevie Rickman led the team with 17 and 10 points, respectively.
SUMMARY
Jan 6, 2023
@Fred Summers Court
New Richmond 71, Wilmington 63
NR^11^23^18^19^^71
W^20^19^10^14^^63
(71) NEW RICHMOND (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Utter 8-1-5-22 Tidball 1-0-0-2 Stephen 3-1-1-8 Hess 0-0-1-1 Abbott 11-4-6-32 Iker 0-0-0-0 Wilson 2-0-0-4 Ast 0-0-0-0 Skaggs 0-0-2-2 Stoffer 0-0-0-0 TOTALS 25-6-15/30-71
(63) WILMINGTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Blessing 10-5-5-30 Brown Jr 3-0-0-6 Morales 3-1-3-10 Camp 1-0-0-2 Lazic 5-0-3-13 Fickert 0-0-0-0 Platt 0-0-0-0 Achtermann 0-0-0-0 TOTALS 23-6-11/17-63
