WINCHESTER, Va.--Junior Darnell Edmonds hit a free throw with
two seconds remaining as Hood pulled out an 87-86 win over
Shenandoah in the first-ever meeting between the schools Wednesday
night at Shingleton Gymnasium.
The surging Blazers won their third straight and sixth in eight
games to even their record at 10-10. Shenandoah dropped its fifth
in a row to fall to 8-7.
In a wild game that featured 10 ties and 16 lead changes, Hood held
a 72-66 lead with 10 minutes left. However, Shenandoah used a 10-0
run to move in front with five minutes to play.
The Blazers faced an 80-75 deficit with less than four minutes left
but drained three straight 3-pointers--the first two by freshman
Tim Abercrombie and the last by junior Sean Robine--to move race
ahead 84-80 with 2:16 to go.
Hood, which sank 6-of-11 3-pointers in the first half, had been
just 1-of-9 from long range in the second half prior to that spurt
and finished the game 10-of-23 (43.5 percent) from behind the
arc.
Shenandoah tied the game at 86 on two free throws by Jeremiah
Lawrence with 16 seconds remaining before Edmonds was fouled with
two ticks left on the clock. He hit his first free throw but missed
the second after a Shenandoah timeout. Mouktar Fawehinmi then
grabbed the rebound but his desperation heave was off the mark as
time expired.
The first half was a tight contest that included seven ties. Hood
held a 40-35 lead on a layup by sophomore Jesse Gutekunst and a
3-pointer by Robine, and junior Dennis Tressler and Abercrombie
later connected on back-to-back shots from behind the arc to give
the Blazers their largest advantage of the half, 48-40, with 15
seconds left.
Quan Griffin grabbed a rebound of a missed 3-pointer and sank a
jumper at the buzzer to pull the Hornets to within 48-42 at the
break.
Hood opened the second half with a 9-4 run to push its lead to 11,
57-46, but Shenandoah scored nine straight to quickly pull back to
within a basket with 15:32 to play.
Junior Santo Provenzano kept the Hornets at bay momentarily with a
3-point play that gave the Blazers a 62-57 lead, but Fawehinmi
capped a 9-4 run with a 3-point play of his own to tie the game at
66.
Robine finished with a season-high 17 points on 3-of-6 shooting
from 3-point range and also grabbed eight rebounds before fouling
out with one minute left to play.
Abercrombie also scored 17 points thanks to a 4-of-5 effort from
behind the line. He added five rebounds and four assists and is
averaging 16.3 points over his last four games.
Gutekunst had 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two
blocks, while Provenzano finished with 15 points.
Fawehinmi led Shenandoah with a game-high 27 points. Lawrence
finished with 18 and Mike Nickens-Turner added 16.
Hood returns to action Tuesday when it visits Waynesburg at 7:30
p.m.