HOPE — Hauser looked like it was going to end the unbeaten streak of Class A No. 7 Edinburgh early in Friday night’s Mid-Hoosier Conference boys basketball game.
In the second quarter, the Lancers went on the attack. Edinburgh closed out the first half on a 13-2 run that helped them take the lead for good on their way to a 59-54 win over the Jets to remain unbeaten on the season.
“I was concerned coming in, playing on the road, and it’d be tough to play here. It was early on that we hit some adversity,” Edinburgh coach Keith Witty said. “We kept telling them to dig at it and work at it. We started getting out in transition and getting guys some open looks, and that was a big adjustment for us in the second quarter.”
The matchup was a little bit of reunion between Hauser coach Brent Keck and Witty. Keck was the head coach at Perry Meridian, and Witty was one of his assistants.
“Keith did a great job for us at Perry Meridian. He’s got a great basketball mind and a great rapport with his kids,” Keck said. “He’s done a phenomenal job at Edinburgh and putting his stamp on things. I think they have a really good team, and he has done a good job with them.”
The 6-0 start by the Lancers is one of their best starts to the season in more 40 years, and also already matched their win total from last season.
“Our guys are competitive guys. We took a lot of lumps last year,” Witty said. “The guys were thrown into the fire, and they kind of came in this year with a chip on their shoulder and wanted to make a difference.”
Hauser took advantage of Edinburgh’s slow start to take a 10-6 lead, but the Lancers closed the gap to 12-10 after the first quarter.
After the Jets grew the lead to 22-16 in the second quarter, Chase Littlejohn hit consecutive 3-points to tie the game at 22-22. The run wasn’t over for Edinburgh. Isaac Roberts converted a 3-point-play, and a basket from Caleb Dewey extended the lead to 27-22. The bleeding for Hauser stopped when Bryce Bates converted two free throws, but a layup from Travis Jones right before the first-half buzzer gave the Lancers a 29-24 lead.
“We’ve gotten down in a couple games, and tonight, we got a little bit too complacent for my liking,” Edinburgh coach Keith Witty said. “Once we got back to what we were capable of doing, it was good.”
The Jets couldn’t find a way to close on the Edinburgh deficit until a little more than three minutes remained in the third quarter, but then Hauser went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 38-37. The Lancers bounced back to build the lead to 43-38 heading into the fourth.
Edinburgh had its biggest lead of the game at 50-41 in the fourth quarter, and then a Noah Detling 3-pointer put the final nail in the coffin to secure the win.
“I thought we did some good things. If we can get better about valuing the basketball, we can continue to improve and evolve and develop,” Keck said. “If they’re that good of a team, and I think they are, if we can get better at taking care and valuing the ball, I think we can compete and play at that level. Our kids did a lot of good things on the defensive end early. I think some fatigue and some runs caused us trouble. You have to give credit to Edinburgh and their defense and coach Witty doing a heck of a job.”
