Hubbard outlasts Howland

By Doug Chapin

The Eagles’ second-half rally produced a 56-52 win over the Tigers.

HUBBARD — Kurtis Drummond and Sam Bellino combined for 36 points while Cory Farcas grabbed 11 rebounds, but a hustle play by senior forward Bobby Thompson epitomized Hubbard High’s 56-52 victory Friday night over Howland.

Behind 21-11 after the first quarter, the Eagles (3-1) battled back into the game and held a 52-50 advantage in the final minute.

On a missed 3-point attempt by Howland, the 6-foot-2 Thompson battled for the rebound with several taller Howland players.

In an effort to control the ball, Thompson, who finished with seven rebounds in the game tipped it twice, the second time into the hands of Drummond.

As the Tigers chased the junior guard, Thompson leaked down the floor and Drummond hit him for a layup, putting the Eagles ahead 54-50. It was Thompson’s only field goal of the game.

Kyle Spence responded with a bucket for Howland (2-2), then Bellino iced the game with two free throws with 13 seconds remaining. Bellino was six-for-six from the line, all in the second half.

“We’ve told them, you’ve got to understand your role, and they seem to be accepting their roles,” Hubbard coach Rick Fox said. “Tonight, Bobby had just two points. In the other games he had been averaging a double-double, and tonight he had just two points. But he didn’t care about that because we won the game.”

Drummond had 19 points, three assists and three steals, and Bellino scored 17 points and dished out four assists. Farcas scored nine points.

“After our loss to LaBrae our main focus was to come back to practice and not mess around so much,” Bellino said. “We like to have fun at practice, but our focus was to practice hard and work on Howland.”

The Tigers were led by Tyler Scott with 18 points and nine rebounds. Spence finished with 11 points and Jared Kirin had eight points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

“We’re just not playing well. They outplayed us for three quarters,” Howland coach Don Andres said.

“When we look to play the ball in and then come out, then we’re going to win some games. We’ve got to go inside out, not outside in. We’re shooting too much from the outside and our key people are not coming through.”

Scott scored nine points in the first quarter as Howland took control early. The Tigers’ largest lead was 23-11 about a minute into the second quarter.

“I looked up at the scoreboard in the first quarter and it said 16-9,” Bellino said. “I said to Bobby Thompson on the court, ‘Bobby, they’ve scored 16 points?’ I had no idea they were that far ahead.

“But last week at LaBrae we were down 15 at halftime and came back and tied the game. We know we can come back on teams.“

Hubbard closed to within 27-25 and trailed 29-25 at the half. In the third period, Bellino scored six points in the final minute, four at the line, to give the Eagles a 40-38 lead.

The fourth quarter was close all the way and was still tied 50-50 with 1:24 remaining.

“It was a huge win for us tonight,” Fox said. “We kind of laid an egg up at LaBrae on Tuesday night.

“We showed the kids film of Howland and said they’re a huge team and we’ve got to play hard. I was real proud, we came out at halftime and picked up the defense. The kids played a great game tonight.”