SHELBYVILLE — Statistically, it could be said that in its 71-57 sectional championship game loss against Class A No. 8 Morristown, Hauser lost the contest in the first five minutes of the game.
The Yellow Jackets came out of the locker room on fire, jumping out to a 12-0 lead before the Jets finally got on the board when Trey Johnson hit a shot with three minutes left in the first quarter. From there however, Hauser played Morristown evenly.
“That first five minutes killed us,” Hauser coach Nate Cangany said. “We knew that they had gotten off to fast starts in their first two games here, so they like starting quick. I feel like we played softly offensively and were not attacking to get the ball inside enough.”
Although the Yellow Jackets (22-4) only had four players score in the game, it was enough to give the defending Class A state champions their second straight Southwestern (Shelby) Sectional title.
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Logan Laster who did the majority of the damage. The senior scored a game-high 37 points to lead Morristown’s charge.
“Logan is a four-year varsity player for them. He uses his athleticism and strength to his advantage, and he’s a tough match up. But I think his best trait is his killer instinct. He wants to take over a game,” Cangany said.
After a difficult first quarter which saw the Jets (12-14) trailing 22-8 at the end, they were able to claw their way back into the game in the second. They used a 14-6 run, which was capped off by two of Trey Johnson’s team-high 15 points, to close the gap to 30-23 with 2:15 remaining in the first half.
the Yellow Jackets answered back, however, scoring the next five points to extend the lead back to 12 before a Sam Johnson bucket for Hauser ended the half, making the score 37-27.
After the break, the teams traded scores before the Jets scored six of the next eight points to cut the lead to 41-35. They had a chance to cut it to four, but missed a layup and could get no closer. Morristown extended the lead back up to 52-42 to begin the final period.
If Hauser had any hope of coming back to take the sectional title, Laster dashed those hopes. He scored 12 points in the final quarter to make sure it was the Yellow Jackets that would be taking home the hardware.
Trey Johnson grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Jets to a 23-20 advantage on the boards and record his second double-double of the sectional. Sam Johnson added 14 points, and Sean Miller had 11 points.
Cangany had nothing but praise for his team.
“To lose eight seniors from last year’s team and return no varsity experience, and to make it to the sectional championship game is nothing to hang your head about,” he said. “We were playing our best at the end of the year. These kids were so coachable, and we are like a family. We are very close. I am very proud of every one of them.”
