Late run snaps Hubbard’s losing streak

January 25, 2017 at 12:08a.m.

Lakeview v Hubbard

By BROOKE MEENACHAN

HUBBARD

The Hubbard boys basketball team finally found its way back into the win column on Tuesday after a 67-51 victory over Lakeview snapped a three-game losing streak.

“Hubbard plays really hard,” Lakeview coach Ryan Fitch said. “Their kids play really hard. Coach [Justin Townsend] does a really good job to get them to do that.

“It was a difference of who played hard and who didn’t,” Fitch said.

It was also a difference of one quarter.

Lakeview (7-9, 2-6 All-American Conference White) trailed by seven points entering the final quarter, but the Eagles (5-10, 2-6) didn’t let up.

“We pushed the tempo,” Townsend said. “We saw them starting to fatigue and we took advantage instead of sitting back with a good lead. We wanted to stay after them and it worked out for us.”

Hubbard capitalized on a 12-3 run to open the fourth quarter and pulled away by as many as 21 points.

“We’ve been talking all year about making that move and we’re hoping this win will propel us moving forward,” Townsend said.

“It feels good. It shows what we can do when we actually play good,” Hubbard’s Nick Ferrera said.

The junior led the Eagles with 23 points. He scored 10 of them in the final eight minutes.

“I was just feeling it. I’ve been working on my 3-point shot at practice and I finally started making a couple,” Ferrera said.

Ferrera hit five 3-pointers for the Eagles.

“You get behind like that and you use a lot of energy to get back in the game,” Fitch said. “Hubbard just made plays down the stretch and their shooters hit some big shots when they needed it.”

With the loss, Lakeview extends their losing skid to three.

“We had a chance to get ahead. We were getting defensive stops but just couldn’t score. When you can’t score, you’re not going to win,” Fitch said.

The Bulldogs and Eagles struggled to do just that in the first quarter. For seven straight minutes, the game was tied 2-2. They opened up the second quarter tied at six points a piece.

“We were flat to begin with. I even said before we came out that we need to find some energy. Whenever you’re not ready to play, it looks like that,” Townsend said.

Fitch couldn’t agree more.

“We just didn’t have any flow on offense. We got some open looks and didn’t make them,” he said.

Things started to open up for both teams in the second quarter.

The Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run before Hubbard called a quick timeout to slow things down. With 2:15 left in the first half, the game was even 18-18. Ferrera made a steal and a basket and Hubbard led 20-18. Lakeview’s Chris Muir countered back with two foul shots.

Ferrera drained a three at the top of the arc and Cam Resatar added another bucket to give Hubbard the 25-20 advantage at the half.

The Eagles continued their run in the second half by jumping out to a 32-23 command. Lakeview was able to cut the deficit to seven off of foul shots.

Chris Muir led the the Bulldogs with 22 points. The sophomore scored 12 points in the fourth quarter in an attempt to lead Lakeview to a comeback, but the Eagles were able to care of business.

“It was a good team effort. We made the extra pass, weren’t selfish and played hard defense.” Ferrera said. “You can’t ask for much more.”