Champion D stops Hubbard

The Flashes improved to 9-2, 3-2. Corey Hitt led Hubbard (7-4, 3-2) with 23 points and 12 rebounds.

By DOUG CHAPIN

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

CHAMPION — What’s that old saying? “Offense fills up scorebooks, but defense is what most basketball coaches like to talk about.”

That’s not the exact quote, but it was the case Tuesday night at Champion High after the Golden Flashes outscored Hubbard, 81-62, in a Trumbull Athletic Conference contest between two uptempo teams.

“I thought our defense in the first quarter was atrocious,” Champion coach Dan Bubon said. “We gave up 19 in the first quarter, then we played very good defensively in the second and third quarters to put the game away.”

Hubbard coach Rick Fox also stressed defense after the game.

“It all starts on the defensive end. If you don’t play defense you’re not going to win,” he said. “They played defense and, plain and simple, we just didn’t play defense. We were giving up layups.”

Champion (9-2, 3-2 TAC) was led by Joe Cvengros who scored 25 points, including 13 in the first quarter. Cvengros shot 9-for-17 in the game, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range. Markel Vaughn added 15 points, six assists and six rebounds. Kris Wildman scored nine points, Mike Smith had eight and Caleb Wright grabbed seven rebounds.

Corey Hitt led Hubbard (7-4, 3-2) with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Kurtis Drummond added 10 points and six rebounds. Bobby Thompson added nine points and Marcus Coonce eight.

The Eagles led 19-17 after a fast-paced first quarter. Included was a stretch of 56 seconds late in the period in which the teams combined for 11 points, scoring on five consecutive possessions.

Hubbard’s last lead in the game was 26-25 with 3:35 remaining in the second quarter. A 7-0 run put the Flashes in control, and they led 33-29 at the half.

“For our fast break to work we have to get the rebound and push it up the court,” Fox said. “In the first quarter we were very successful and then we decided that we didn’t want to play defense.”

Champion picked up its defense in the third quarter, holding Hubbard to eight points. The score was 42-35 with 3:40 remaining in the quarter when the Golden Flashes went on a 16-2 run to close the period ahead 58-37.

“The pace was good,” Bubon said. “We really slowed them down with our pressure and we were able to get some turnovers and push the ball, and we also rebounded well and pushed the ball. Eighty-one points is the second most we’ve scored this year so I’m pretty happy with our offense, that’s starting to come around. Defensively we were very good for two quarters.”

Champion’s largest lead in the fourth quarter was 25, and Hubbard got as close as 16 points in the final minutes.

The winners shot 55 percent (28-for-51) from the field and 77 percent (20-for-26) from the line. Hubbard was 40 percent (24-for-60) on field goals, but hurt itself at the line with a 47 percent (9-for-19) performance.