Hartford boys hold off Lebo down the stretch for 58-53 victory
By Jesse Newell (Contact)
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Photo by Carly Pearson
The Hartford bench celebrates during the Jaguars’ victory over Lebo Tuesday night at Hartford High School. The Jaguars beat the Wolves, 58-53.
HARTFORD — Right now, the winning seems to be contagious for Justin Farr and the rest of the Hartford Jaguars.
“I think we’re finally getting that confidence we need,” the senior forward said, “to be able to pull away when we need to.”
Leading by just one point entering the fourth quarter, the Jaguars played well at the most crucial time on Tuesday, using a 10-2 run to take control in a 58-53 victory over Lebo.
“I think we turned it up a notch,” Hartford coach Chuck Ewy said.
The Jaguars’ spurt started with defense.
Hartford — leading 42-41 at the start of the fourth quarter — held Lebo without a field goal for 6 minutes and 6 seconds.
“I think we were pushing maybe just a little too hard offensively rather than just trying to stay with our system,” Lebo coach Matt Barrett said, “and that showed.”
Hartford also was efficient — and balanced — offensively.
After a Farr free throw, Storm Cartee connected on a three, and Farr followed with a baseline jumper.
Consecutive lay-ins from Taylor Heckathorn and Cartee pushed the Hartford lead to 52-43 with 2 1/2 minutes to play.
“We looked real good,” Ewy said. “I think maybe (Lebo was) a little bit winded or a little bit slow of foot.”
Though the Wolves did make a comeback — narrowing the gap to 54-50 with 38.6 seconds left — it wouldn’t be enough, as Hartford held on late by making four free throws.
The Jaguars were led by the steady play of Farr.
The 6-foot-5 senior was an effective scorer without trying to do too much, making eight of his 12 attempts to finish with 20 points.
Photo by Carly Pearson
Hartford’s Justin Farr (24) looks for an open teammate while being guarded by Lebo’s Cameron Smith Tuesday night at Hartford High School. Farr had 20 points and 10 rebounds in the Jaguars’ 58-53 win.
“I hate to admit it, but I’m not the strongest person in the league, so I have to just get what I can and be smart and not try to force anything,” Farr said. “Everybody tries hard to get it down there; I don’t want to throw it away.”
Farr completed his double-double with 10 rebounds.
“He’s a tremendous cog in our little machine at this point,” Ewy said. “He’s been real consistent all year.”
Cartee added 13 points, making 3 of 5 three-point attempts, while Cody Barrett also hit double figures with 12.
Adam Laflin paced Lebo’s scoring, putting up 19 points on 6-of-19 shooting.
Cameron Smith went 7-for-11 to finish with 14 points, while Blake Jones added 13.
“We’re not where we want to be at this point in the season, but the season is salvageable,” Barrett said. “There’s a lot of season left. We’re just going to keep plugging away and hopefully stay together as a team.
“We can go one of two ways at this point in time right now. Hopefully, they pick the right way. We’ve all got improvements to make.”
The Jaguars, meanwhile, head into next week’s Lyon County League Tournament brimming with confidence, a four-game win streak and also aspirations of making a run for the title.
“I think we’ve got a good shot at it — just as good as anybody else,” Farr said.
Lebo girls 67, Hartford 30
Lebo’s pressure defense proved to be too much for Hartford, as the Lady Wolves ran away with the 37-point victory.
After switching to the full-court press, Lebo took control in the second quarter. The Lady Wolves started the frame on a 7-0 run and ended it on a 10-0 spurt, taking a 37-15 lead into the break.
Photo by Carly Pearson
Lebo's Morgan Tastove drives around Hartford defender Kim Darbro at Hartford High School.
“I was real proud of all the girls that got in,” Lebo coach Jay Applegate said. “They did a good job.”
Meanwhile, a frustrated Tammy Windle kept cycling through her bench to try to find a combination that would work for the Lady Jaguars.
Hartford had 19 turnovers in the first three quarters.
“We quit running an offense,” Windle said. “We were in the game until we quit running an offense. (It was) a lack of discipline. We wouldn’t run an offense, and that’s why I had younger kids in there at the end, because they ran it.”
Lebo added an 18-0 run toward the end of the third quarter — helped by five points during the stretch by Morgan Tastove — to take a 57-24 lead and implement the running clock for the fourth quarter.
Morgan Laflin led Lebo with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Tastove and Kate Marks both hit double figures with 10 apiece.
Kellie Farr paced Hartford with team-highs in points (9) and rebounds (8).
Hartford boys 58, Lebo 53
Tuesday at Hartford
Lebo 19 11 11 12 — 53
Hartford 18 18 6 16 — 58
Lebo (7-4, 4-4 LCL) — Gage Milota 0-2 0-0 0, Blake Jones 3-7 7-11 13, Cameron Smith 7-11 0-1 14, Adam Laflin 6-19 5-10 19, Dylan Smith 1-2 2-3 4, Devon Johnston 0-0 0-0 0, Calvin Perry 1-1 1-6 3, Dylan Montgomery 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-42 15-31 53.
Hartford (9-2, 7-1 LCL) — Adam Ewy 2-3 0-0 4, Storm Cartee 4-9 2-4 13, Cody Barrett 4-12 4-7 12, Taylor Heckathorn 3-8 1-2 7, Justin Farr 8-12 4-8 20, Aaron Thomsen 0-0 0-0 0, Ethan Beemer 0-0 0-0 0, Logan Grieder 1-2 0-0 2, Tommy Smith 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-46 11-21 58.
3-point goals — Lebo 1-7 (Laflin 1-4, Jones 1-2, Milota 0-1), Hartford 3-12 (Cartee 3-5, Ewy 0-1, Grieder 0-1, Barrett 0-1, Heckathorn 0-2, Farr 0-2). Rebounds — Lebo 30 (Jones, Laflin 7), Hartford 24 (Farr 10). Turnovers — Lebo 12, Hartford 10. Total fouls — Lebo 17, Hartford 20. Fouled out — Lebo: Jones.
Lebo girls 67, Hartford 30
Tuesday at Hartford
Lebo 18 19 20 10 — 67
Hartford 11 4 9 6 — 30
Lebo (9-2, 6-2 LCL) — Kate Marks 3 2-3 10, Shelby Robke 1 0-0 3, Lauren Schlesener 3 0-2 6, Morgan Tastove 4 1-2 10, Chelsie Eagleburger 2 0-0 4, Morgan Laflin 6 2-3 14, Tabitha Frye 4 0-0 8, Brittany Hase 3 2-2 8, Taylor Miller 1 0-0 2, Deidra Jones 1 0-0 2, Chelsea Schroeder 0 0-0 0, Shelbi Fehr 0 0-0 0. Totals 28-60 3-12 67.
Hartford (1-8, 1-6 LCL) — Jessica Wilson 2 0-0 5, Kellie Farr 4 1-2 9, Paige Hamman 0 0-2 0, Amy Bolen 4 0-0 8, Kim Darbro 0 0-0 0, Samantha Wilkerson 0 0-0 0, Carmen Clark 0 0-0 0, Megan Rohde 1 1-2 3, Cheyenne Veatch 0 0-0 0, Ashley Preeo 2 1-2 5, Christina Lee 0 0-0 0, Kristen Williams 0 0-0 0. Totals 13-41 3-8 30.
3-point goals — Lebo 4 (Marks 2, Robke, Tastove), Hartford 1 (Wilson). Rebounds — Lebo 35 (Laflin, Hase 7), Hartford 23 (Farr 8). Turnovers — Lebo 13, Hartford 21. Total fouls — Lebo 8, Hartford 8. Fouled out — None.
Comments
Post a comment
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. Our goal with this feature is to encourage thoughtful discussions about the news stories. Using the comment feature to make random attacks on people is not acceptable. Emporiagazette.com neither endorses nor guarantees the accuracy of any user contribution. Responsibility for what is posted or contributed to this site is the sole responsibility of each user. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
(Requires free registration.)