HANOVER, Ind. – The Hanover Panthers were able to hold off the charging Lions on Sunday afternoon as junior
Ty Houston (Union, Ky.) deemed clutch down the stretch to propel Hanover to the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Semi-finals.
Houston paced the Blue and Red charting a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Senior
Isaac Hibbard (New Albany, Ind.) added a team-high 25 points with nine rebounds and seven assists.
Both team's wasted little time picking up where they left off less then 48 hours ago as the MSJ hot shooting ensued before a deep three-pointer by sophomore Max Greenamopyer (Zionsville, Ind.) propelled HC in front at the first media timeout 12-9. Hanover remained unphased using a 9-0 run to capture the 21-11 difference.
However, the Lions offense continued to roar taking the slim 30-29 advantage at the 5:11 mark when sophomore
Matt Munoz (Indianapolis, Ind.) found Hibbard on a back door cut before another Greenamoyer three-pointer gave Hanover the 34-30 lead. Houston would propel HC to the 40-39 halftime lead using a four-point play.
After a slow start in the second half, the Panther offense came alive as Greenamoyer forced a Lion timeout at the 16:47 mark pushing HC op top 48-39. But again, the Lions refused to be tamed using an 8-0 run to pull within 50-47.
With just under 10 minutes to play, Hibbard looked to push the tempo using a defensive steal to capture an easy fastbreak layup en route to the 62-53 advantage when MSJ cut the difference to as little as 64-63 with just 4:49 remaining.
The final minutes turned into a whirl wind of events as both team's began to feel the pressure build when the clutch hand of Greenamoyer reign through putting Hanover on top 67-66 with just 1:34 remaining. Houston handled the rest scoring the final four points to send HC to the semi-final match-up of the HCAC Tournament.
Hanover returns to action on Friday, Feb. 25 within the confines of Collier Arena when they host Transylvania in the semi-final matchup of the HCAC Tournament.
