Hauser’s Cole Renner shoots over South Ripley’s Logan Bradley at Hauser High School. Tommy Walker/For The Republic
HOPE — Hauser boys basketball kept the game close in the first quarter defensively, but once South Ripley’s offense started clicking, points for the Raiders were coming on the scoreboard in a hurry.
Perimeter defense, rebounding and turnovers plagued the Jets, who were handed a 69-43 loss Friday night.
“It was our focus all week to take away the 3 from them,” Hauser coach Brent Keck said. “I thought they had a spectacular player like they do with (Nick) Schwarte, and I know they had some complementary players that can shoot it really well. (Blaine) Ward got loose and away from us.”
Keck said he was missing a couple players for most of the week leading up to Friday’s game, but it wasn’t excuse for how his team performed during the game.
“I don’t want to make excuses for our kids, but it was a jagged week of practice,” Keck said. “The things that give you a chance to win the game, I don’t think they did. I think the strength of our team is rebounding, and I give South Ripley a lot of credit. They did a better job on the boards and cracking down on some long balls off of 3s. They shot it well and played at a high level, so give credit to them where credit is due.”
The Jets (6-7) found themselves trailing 7-5 early in the first quarter, but South Ripley (8-5) grew the lead to 12-5 following a 5-0 run. Hauser found itself in foul trouble, and Keck had to go deep into his bench toward the end of the quarter. But the Jets got a couple baskets late near the end of the quarter to cut it to 12-9.
Hauser used a zone defense during the first half, but the Raiders had plenty of good shooters on the outside with Schwarte in particular, who had three 3-pointers in the first half. The Jets kept attacking inside with the Bryce Bates, Koby Johnson and Cole Renner to keep themselves within reach, trailing only 28-20 at the half.
South Ripley started out the second half on an 11-2 run to widen its lead to 39-22. Blaine Ward, who was quiet with zero points in the first half, came alive in the second half, hitting four 3-pointers in the third quarter. They were ahead 46-27 until Hauser cut it to 46-32 at one point in the quarter, but still trailed 52-35 heading into the fourth.
After a bucket for the Jets, the Raiders created a couple turnovers and transition layups to go on an 8-0 run that was capped off with a Schwarte dunk to put an exclamation mark on the game.
Bates led the Jets with a game-high 21 points. Johnson finished with 11 points, and Renner added seven.
Schwarte had a team-high 18 points for South Ripley.
“We didn’t do a lot of things to give ourselves a shot against a very good team tonight. If we want to beat a good club, we have to rebound the ball and take care of the basketball,” Keck said. “It was a jagged week, but we won’t make excuses. South Ripley deserves it. They did a great job and had a great week of preparation. We’ll get to work this week, and hopefully have a full week with our kids in regards to practice and preparation and try to get ready for a really good Waldron team (on Friday).”
