Hamilton County Reporter
Sectional 8 at Carmel got off to an exciting start, as Hamilton Southeastern and Westfield played a double overtime game in the first of Tuesday’s two first-round games at the Eric Clark Activity Center.
The Royals eventually beat the Shamrocks 62-57. Southeastern will play Noblesville in Friday’s first semi-final. But first, HSE had to get past a determined and hot-shooting Shamrocks team.
“They went out there and they competed,” said Royals coach Brian Satterfield of his team. “Was it our best game? No. But we found a way.”
Westfield led 15-8 after the first quarter, with senior Caleb Welch scoring six of those
points. The Royals came back to take a 26-20 halftime lead; junior Mabor Majak
had seven points in the second period, with Landon Morris adding six points.
“Didn’t get off to a good start, but our bench came in and gave us a spark and we got things turned around,” said Satterfield.
Southeastern held a 30-22 lead early in the third, but back-to-back 3s from senior Zach Banks suddenly cut the lead to 30-28.
The Royals worked their way back to a 35-30 lead, but Welch and Eli Patchett threw
in consecutive 3s to put the ‘Rocks up 36-35.
A late three-point play by Chris Grubbs got HSE ahead 40-36 at the end of the third period. Westfield opened the fourth with a 7-0 run, all by Banks (two free throws, a 3 and a floater.) The ‘Rocks still led 46-44 with 30 seconds left, but Grubbs tied the game with a layin, and regulation ended at 46-46.
“We knew that they were going to be ready to come out and we knew we were in a dogfight from there,” said Satterfield.
Banks and Welch both hit 3s in the first overtime, with Welch’s triple putting Westfield ahead 52-50. Noah Smith hit two free throws with 1:45 left, and those would be the final points of the first extra period. A last HSE shot didn’t go, so there would be more free basketball.
The Royals took care of business quickly in the second OT. Morris and Grubbs hit back-to-back layins, then Vinny Buccilla hit 3 of 4 foul shots to give Southeastern a 59-52 lead.
Welch hit another 3, but the Royals again made free throws to seal the game.
“They kept coming together, they kept talking,” said Satterfield. “Was it a perfect game or a good game for us? Not in the least.
You got to give them a lot of credit for that. But at the same time, we kept getting some stops, we kept making plays when we had to. We found a way to win.”
Grubbs scored 15 points, pulled eight rebounds and dished out six assists Morris went 7 of 7 from the lead to add 14 points.
Majak had 13 points and seven rebounds.
Noah Smith had five assists.
Banks scored 16 points, with Welch and Braden Smith both adding 15 points; Banks
and Smith led the rebounding with five each.
Patchett scored 11. Smith dished out five assists, and Welch handed out four. The
Shamrocks were 11 of 22 from 3-point range; Welch hit four, Patchett three, and
Banks and Smith each had two 3s.
Southeastern is 15-8 for the season, while the Shamrocks finished at 12-11.
