Campbell’s Hodge delivers against Howland

The sophomore had 14 of his game-high 24 points in the final quarter of a 57-53 victory.

By GREG GULAS

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

CAMPBELL — Hoping to remain alive in the Metro Athletic Conference race, the Campbell High boys basketball team desperately needed a win over league rival Howland on Tuesday.

In a game of streaks, the Tigers held the lead after the first three quarters of play and built a 51-44 margin with 3:32 remaining, all while playing without leading scorer Nathan Cope, who was sidelined with an injury.

It was Campbell sophomore Nate Hodge, however, who stole the show as he scored 14 of his game-high 24 points in the final quarter, including 11 in a row at one stretch as the Red Devils posted a 57-53, come-from-behind victory over the Tigers Tuesday at the N.A. D’Amato Field House.

“Howland is a well-coached team and head coach Don Andres is always throwing a lot of different looks at you throughout the game. He always keeps the pressure on a team and did exactly that to us tonight,” Red Devil coach Brian Danilov said.

“We’re very fortunate in that we have unselfish players who are always looking for the open player. In addition to Nate [Hodge], who really stepped up his game in the fourth quarter, I was happy with our overall effort and most especially with the play of Anthony Moses and Dorian Jones.

“Both players provided us with lots of energy all game long,” Danilov added.

A bucket by Moses and five points by Hodge, including his first of his four 3s on the night, staked the Red Devils (9-2, 4-2) to the early 7-0 lead just 2:28 into the game.

The Tigers (8-4, 3-3) rattled off the next 15 points, however, six coming from Kyle Spence and another five from the hot hand of Drew Guido as Howland built a 16-9 margin after the first eight minutes of play.

Jared Kirin scored six of his 12 markers in the second period for Howland, but the Red Devils pecked away at the Tigers’ lead, cutting the margin to 24-22 at intermission.

Antwan Dawson then netted seven of his 11 points in the third period for the Red Devils while Nathan Salter added six markers for the Tigers, each team putting 14 points on the board after intermission as Howland held a 38-36 advantage with one quarter of play remaining.

Two buckets from beyond the arc by Guido then helped the Tigers establish a 51-44 lead at the 3:32 mark of the period.

Enter Hodge as he then scored the next 11 points, including two critical 3-point buckets to help the Red Devils to a 55-51 advantage and a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way.

“Give credit to my teammates, especially Jerah’me Williams because they found me and then got me the ball when I was open. I felt like I was dialed in, but this was a total team effort. This is a big win for us because it keeps us alive in the league race,” Hodge said.

Andres was clearly disappointed at the outcome.

“It was a tough game and our kids really played their hearts out tonight,” he said.

The Red Devils were 21 of 53 from the field, including six of 11 from beyond the arc while the Tigers canned 20 of 50 field goal attempts and cashed in on 10 of 12 charity tosses.

Campbell held a 35-33 rebound advantage, but the Tigers’ Kirin and Tyler Scott held game high honors as they pulled down 10 caroms each.

Williams dished out 10 assists while Moses re-routed seven Howland aerial attempts for the Red Devils.