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Aces win in new gym

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By KEVIN EIS

cnsports@crescent-news.com

HICKSVILLE -- This was a game neither the Hicksville players, fans nor coaches are soon to forget.

Actually, the Stryker Panthers will probably also remember it, although they may not wish to.

Despite trailing throughout until there was only 2:05 remaining in the final quarter, Hicksville began to write the first chapter of its new facility - now affectionately known as "The Red Zone" - with a come-from-behind 43-39 win over the previously unbeaten Panthers.

After Stryker senior Jordan Jaggers nailed a 3-ball at the horn to give the Panthers a 31-26 lead with one stanza to play, it seemed as if the blue-and-white chose to play it safe through the final eight minutes which ultimately led to its demise.

Hicksville co-mentor Randy Headley agreed.

"When Jaggers hit that 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter, I kind of felt like Stryker maybe thought the game was over at that point," commented Headley, whose Aces outscored their opponents 17-8 down the stretch while improving to 3-1. "I told our kids, 'they think the game's over, but that's not going to do it. We're going to grind in the fourth quarter and get a chance somewhere along there to be there and let's see what happens.' Fortunately, tonight it happened."

Hicksville immediately began to close with a 12-5 run as the first four minutes ticked away. Senior Josh Vandemark got a nice assist to Josh Flanary in the lane for two points to get things rolling and bring the sea of red to its feet.

Vandemark, who was held scoreless in the first half due to some aggressive Stryker defense, scored seven of his 12 points in the final eight minutes, including a trey which brought the Aces to within 35-34 with 4:02 to play.

However, it was a drive to the bucket by sophomore German exchange student Jonas Goes at 2:05 to play which gave Hicksville its first lead of the game, 38-36, which began to rattle the Panthers. Although Goes only had four points off the bench, his heads-up defensive play, along with that of senior Adam Battershell, was also an asset when the game was on the line.

A pair of free-throws by Stryker senior Jordan Olmstead cut the Aces' lead to 40-39, before Battershell came up with a key steal which ended up sending Vandemark to the line to sink one of two bonus shots to make it 41-39 with 15 ticks left.

"Give Adam Battershell a lot of credit," lauded Headley. "Coach (Dan) Turnbull and coach (Mike) Blue made the decision to put Adam in there on the defensive end. Adam hadn't played a lick of the whole game and hasn't played much this season. But he's very quick and he came up with that huge steal. That's why our team is starting to develop an identity of what they're about, so it was a great team win."

But perhaps the key defensive play was made by Goes with under 10 seconds showing.

Down by just two points, the Panthers got the ball into the hands of Jaggers, who was their most dangerous shooter all night with 16 points. As the 6-3 Jaggers was about to burn the Aces on a pull-up jumper, Goes swatted the ball away into the hands of Vandemark, who then drew a technical foul on Jaggers and sunk one of two free-throw attempts.

The Stryker bench was then issued a technical foul and Hicksville junior Dustin Yoder hit 1-of-2 from the line to put the game on ice with 1.9 seconds left.

"We just tried to defend tight and win it down the stretch," said Goes. "I was just thinking play the best defense I can. I defended (Jaggers) before so I was just trying to figure out what he was going to do. He pulled up a lot of shots before. I just tried to get in his face and luckily I got a piece of the ball."

"He's starting to learn the way we play, and he made some real positive plays at the end of the game" said Headley of Goes. "He's a good kid we're hoping can fill some more minutes for us and give us another weapon."

In addition to leading the Aces with 12 points, Vandemark grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked six shots.

"I think our kids were a little awestruck," admitted the Hicksville mentor, whose Aces shot just 5-of 20 in the first half en route to a 20-15 deficit. "But they settled down in the second half and played much better. "For the kids winning in the opening night (of the new gym) is storybook-type stuff and we're just so happy that we had an opportunity to help them along that way. Forty years from now, they'll remember that they won the first game in the gym."

Zach Erb had eight rebounds for Stryker, which suffered its first loss, falling to 3-1. Panthers' head coach Dave Schultz was unavailable for comment.

BOX SCORE

STRYKER (39) - Olmstead 8; Ruffer 5; Gansmiller 0; Jaggers 16; Frank 0; Erb 8; Brown 0; Doehrmann 2. Totals 18-48 6-10 39.

HICKSVILLE (43) - Battershell 0; Jasso 0; Vandemark 12; Flanary 2; Yoder 6; Sailer 0; T. Klepper 9; Slattery 4; Goes 4; S. Klepper 6. Totals 16-39 13-21 43.

Three-point goals: Stryker - Jaggers 2, Ruffer. Hicksville - Vandemark, Yoder. Rebounds: Stryker 16, Hicksville 24 (Vandemark 13). Turnovers: Stryker 5, Hicksville 10.

Stryker 12 8 11 8 - 39

Hicksville 6 9 11 17 - 43

Reserves: Hicksville, 46-34.