HOPE — Hauser had things clicking on the offensive end Monday night.
The Jets’ defense was another matter.
Undefeated Greensburg overcame a nine-point first-half deficit, then put up 49 points in the second half to post an 80-70 boys basketball victory.
“Our 3-point shooting was pretty decent, but it’s all about the defensive end, and when you give up 80, we’re not playing very good on that end,” Hauser coach Griff Roth said. “We gave up way too many second-chance points. It just wasn’t a performance that we need to have to beat a good team like this.”
The Jets (3-2) jumped out to an early 9-1 lead on three 3-pointers. Hauser led 20-15 after one quarter and pushed the lead to 24-15 early in the second on baskets by Justin Compton and Alex Gross.
The Pirates (4-0) then closed the half on a 16-4 run to take a 31-28 halftime lead.
Greensburg extended the lead to 55-45 after three quarters and led by as many as 16 twice in the final period. The Pirates still led 75-60 with 2:20 remaining when the Jets made a final push.
Mason Sherman scored eight points in 64 seconds to bring Hauser within 76-68 with 1:15 left. But that was as close as the Jets would come.
Drew Comer scored 32 points to lead Greensburg. Lane Sparks added 21.
Sherman finished with 23 points to led Hauser despite sitting out the final couple minutes of the second and third quarters with three and four fouls.
“He’s our leader on the floor,” Roth said. “He means a lot to the team, but we have people on the bench that can do some of that (point-guard duties), as well.”
Compton added 17 points for the Jets. Alex Gross had a double-double in the first half and finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds to lead Hauser to a 35-33 advantage on the boards. Andrew Titus finished with 10 points.
The Pirates shot 50 percent (8 of 16) from 3-point range, going 6 of 9 in the second half.
“I think our energy level wasn’t as high, and we didn’t do the things that we needed to do to win the ballgame, such as blocking out, rebounding,” Roth said.
“When you’re playing a really good team like this, we have to do all that.”
