It was a case of deja vu for the Bulldogs, but the story played out the same.
Hampton answered a late Meigs County to rally to punch their ticket to the BlueCross Basketball Championships for the third consecutive season with a 67-61 victory in Class A substate action that was eerily similar to last season’s meeting.
The Bulldogs will learn the Class A bracket on Tuesday.
On Monday night, Hampton set the tone early.
After the Tigers opened the scoring, Coby Jones and Dakota Crumley pushed the Bulldogs to an 8-2 lead. The teams traded points – including a Chris Holtsclaw three for Hampton – as HHS maintained an 11-4 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Jones opened the second quarter with a trey, and Adam McClain helped push the HHS lead to 23-8 midway through the quarter. Meigs County bookmarked a Nathan Norris bucket, but Norris sparked a 9-2 run to give the Bulldogs a 20-point lead.
Hampton maintained a 37-20 advantage at the half.
After Jones drained a 3-pointer to open the third quarter, the Tigers slowly started pulling out of the hole. Meigs County went on a 17-4 run to close within six points as McClain and Norris scored the HHS points. Norris and Jones stopped the run as the teams traded points to end the third quarter and the Bulldogs maintained a 50-42 lead.
in the fourth quarter, the Tigers continued to have the momentum. The first six minutes of the quarter saw MC methodically capture the 57-56 lead with 2:10 to play. Jones, however, answered for Hampton with a pair of free throws, and Norris added a jumper with 1:20 to extend the lead to three points. After Meigs pulled within one point, McClain, Jones and Jose Velasquez added points to clinch the game for the Bulldogs.
Jones led the way with 24 points, while Norris finished with 17 points. Velasquez and McClain had seven points apiece. Holtsclaw and Crumley added six points each.
Moore led Meigs with 32 points.
Postgame Audio
Hampton Head Coach Ned Smith
Photo Gallery
To view more photos, visit cartercountysports.instaproofs.com.
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