Hoggard used an aggressive gameplan to topple New Hanover and end the Wildcats' stunning run of conference victories. Here's what happened.
Hoggard beat New Hanover to the ball, to the boards, and Friday night, Jan. 16, toppled its cross-town rival 54-52, snapping the Wildcats’ 71-game Carolina Coast Conference winning streak.
New Hanover had won 12 straight in the series, dating back to 2021. Since 2005, the Wildcats had been 40-16 against the Vikings.
But this time, on the road, Hoggard (11-5, 3-1) flipped the switch, playing aggressively and leading from the second quarter on.
The Wildcats fell to 10-4 and 3-1 in the conference.
The Vikings did it by frustrating New Hanover’s top player, senior Kellum Brown, shutting him out until early in the fourth quarter.
Hoggard’s poor free-throw shooting (9 for 19), however, kept the Wildcats in the game. New Hanover trailed by as many as 12 points in the fourth quarter before cutting the deficit to 52-50 with 43 seconds left. The Vikings held on, twice hitting one of two from the free-throw line thereafter.
‘They overlooked us’
“We’re not as big or as athletic as they are, but we wanted it more,” Hoggard forward Will Seward said. “We jumped and dove for the loose balls. We played better defense. Our goal all night was to make life tough for them. They had that 70 game-winning streak, but they overlooked us.”
Seward (game-high 22 points) was one of several players in a rotation who defended Brown (22.9 points per game). In a pre-game ceremony, Brown was honored for having eclipsed 1,000 points in his career.
“We knew if Kellum didn’t have a good night, they wouldn’t have a good night,” Seward said.
New Hanover makes it interesting
Trailing by 12, Brown opened the fourth-quarter scoring with his first basket. A 3-pointer by junior Dylan Fortun (12 points) made it a four-point game with 5:02 to play, but Hoggard kept it a two-possession game for the next several minutes.
Hoggard coach Brett Queen said his team “was so passive on defense” two weeks ago when it lost to Laney.
“We had to be more aggressive; we worked all week on that in practice,” Queen said. “Brown didn't have the night he usually does.”
“We watched a lot of film on them,” Seward said. “They are an aggressive team averaging 70 points a game this year, but tonight we held them to [52] points.”
New Hanover coach Kirk Angel said Hoggard “did everything better than us tonight. They punched us in the face. I’ve told my guys that we’re going to get everyone’s best game, and they weren’t ready for it tonight. We can’t just walk on the court and expect to win.”
Angel stopped short of saying this is a rebuilding year, though only Brown and backcourt mate senior Jazir Wright-Mcgee (team-high 14 points) return with significant varsity minutes.
“We lost two great guards to graduation who were 112-8 in their careers,” said Angel, who coached his team to consecutive state title appearances.
Keeping New Hanover off-balance
During the night’s uncustomary long stretch of playing from behind, the Wildcats were stuck forcing off-balance deep shots and turned the ball over several times in transition.
Queen praised Seward’s consistency this season, and tonight his hustle created scoring opportunities.
“We don’t run a bunch of stuff on offense for a certain player,” Queen said. “Tonight, the ball found its way to Will.”
He and Seward said afterward that they could put the team’s wretched foul shooting away.
“Our guys suffered at the line, especially at the end, because they were tired,” Queen said. “A lot of guys played a lot of minutes on the floor tonight.”
Said Seward, “It doesn’t matter how many free throws you can make in practice; you have to make them in the game.”
In the earlier girls game Friday night at New Hanover, Hoggard used a 24-0 run to pull away from the Wildcats, 57-17. AK Chance led the Vikings with 17 points.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Hoggard basketball beats New Hanover to end 71 game conference streak
Category: General Sports
