Published: 12/30/2021 9:16:15 PM
Modified: 12/30/2021 9:15:48 PM
HANOVER — With Jason Allen on the bench, the Hanover High boys basketball team more than held its own.
Unfortunately for HHS, the Sanborn star didn’t stay there for long.
Hanover rallied from a first-quarter deficit and used a 10-point run to briefly pull ahead, but, led by Allen’s 29 points, Sanborn outscored Hanover by 17 in the second half to hand the hosts their fourth defeat in five games this season in a 62-45 loss on Thursday afternoon.
“In the first quarter, we had seven turnovers. In the second quarter, I don’t think we had any,” Hanover coach Tim Winslow said. “We had a lot of deflections and got a lot of easy baskets because of it.
“In the third quarter, we got out of what we’re trying to do, and we tried to score quickly as opposed to running our plays.”
Following a 3-pointer by Hanover senior guard Max Galbraith, who led HHS with 13 points, Sanborn went on a 10-0 run that included back-to-back triples from Allen. Hanover trailed, 19-12, after a quarter, with 12 of Sanborn’s points belonging to Allen, and 28-20 halfway through the second. But with Allen resting, the tide began to turn.
Senior guard Mason Gantrish connected from distance, then got a steal and a breakaway layup. Hanover ultimately took a short-lived lead, its first since 3-0, and went into the half tied at 30.
“We played a lot better defensively,” Galbraith said. “We were swinging the momentum our way. We were stealing possessions away from them, which was important for us, (but) we came out slow and never really got it going in the second half.”
Sanborn clamped down on defense out of the break, holding Hanover to just four points in the third quarter. Then Allen closed his day even better than he started it, with 15 points in the fourth to help his team run away with the victory.
Winslow said Sanborn was good about drawing Hanover’s defense to overcommit to the dribble drive, then making the extra pass along the perimeter to set up open shots from deep. Sanborn knocked down 11 3-pointers in the game.
Senior guard Jacob Kubik-Pauw had eight points for Hanover, all of them in the second half. Gantrish and senior forward Collin Pierce had six apiece.
Hanover is home against Pelham, which has won each of its first five games by at least 14 points, on Monday.
“It’s not the first pass, it’s the second one that’s so hard to defend,” Winslow said. “They really beat us on the offensive boards, and that’s been our Achilles heel. We played their style, not our style.”
Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.