02/21/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
METROPOLIS - It has been a while since the Massac County Patriots won three-consecutive regional championships.

You have to go back to 1991-92 to find where Coach Joe Hosman finished up a string of six-straight regional titles.

On Friday night the Patriots will get a shot at a three-peat.

Massac County used a big fourth quarter to pull away from SIRR Ohio Division rival Harrisburg, 77-59 in the semifinals of the Massac County 2A Regional Wednesday night.

Senior guards Isaac Hosman and Will Harmon scored 25-points each as the Patriots improved to 21-9 on the season.

Hosman also dished out nine-assists.

This helped offset the final game of Harrisburg senior Cameron Ande.

The 6-3 senior finished his prep basketball career with 31-points in the loss as Coach Andy Fehrenbacher's club finished 13-19 on the season.

Massac County will face Vienna on Friday night.

The Eagles rolled past Carmi-White County 73-47 in the other semifinal played on Wednesday.

“We struggled in the first half. They (Harrisburg) were 'kicking us' on the boards. That is something that we have had trouble with this year at times and we really work hard on it,” said Coach Hosman. “In the second half everything flipped. Isaac (Hosman) got some big steals and Will (Harmon) hit some shots.”

Massac County also received scoring from 6-4 senior Hunter Box with 11-points to go with 13-rebounds with junior guard Kris Garnett pitching in with seven-points and nine-rebounds.

Harmon canned five of the Patriots' six made 3-pointers as his team took three of the four meetings with Harrisburg in 2023-24.

No other Bulldog besides Ande reached double-figures in scoring.

Three different players; senior Connor Henshaw, junior Adrian Mann and junior Owen Rann, finished with eight-points apiece in the loss as they couldn't overcome late game mistakes.

“You can't do that (turnovers) in the postseason. The postseason has a funny way of exposing the weaknesses you have had throughout the year. We dug ourselves a hole in the first half down 10 but we fought back because we stopped settling for long shots and got to the rim,” said Coach Fehrenbacher after his club's five fourth quarter turnovers.

Junior guard Jack Turner came off of the bench and scored four-points in the second half for Massac County and senior Jackson Lee scored his three-points in the first quarter as the Patriots took an early 17-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Hosman scored twice in the first quarter and handed out a pair of assists on scores by Garnett and Lee.

Ande started the second quarter with six-straight points.

A three-point play and a put back of his own missed shot tied the game at 17-all.

Ande added seven more points on a couple of drives to the basket and long-range NBA distance 3-point bomb that gave the Bulldogs a 30-26 advantage with 1:54 left in the half.

Henshaw added a 3-pointer from the top of the circle as Harrisburg was in business leading 36-32 at the break.

Ande hit just one shot in the third quarter; a 3-pointer from the right wing but the Bulldogs got scores from Rann twice in the frame along with Young scoring on a rebound and Rann getting a bucket on a drive.

But Turner gave the Patriots a big spark off of the bench, scoring on a drive and Harmon nailed down his fifth 3-pointer to close the quarter at 51-49 Massac County.

(CONTINUED)

“We have had games where we didn't hit shots and we weren't stopping people. Tonight we did both of them, we hit shots and we got stops,” said Coach Hosman. “We went with four guards (in the fourth quarter) and they made some unselfish plays. We work on getting back cuts to the basket. Jack (Turner) has been a spark for us off of the bench. He is just a 'dog' defensively and will guard anyone we want him to guard and he hits shots.”

A 10-2 by Massac County to open the fourth quarter was the beginning of the end for the Harrisburg season.

Box scored six of the points on 4-of-5 free throws with one of the charities following a score in the lane while being fouled by Rann.

Hosman also added a drive in the lane as the Patriots began to spread the floor offensively.

The three-point play by Box made it 61-51 less than three minutes in to the final quarter.

Massac County put the game on ice in the final minutes by hitting 6-of-8 from the foul line, 12-of-15 in the final eight minutes.

Harmon, Turner and Hosman all got scores on drives to the basket as reality set in.

“The fourth quarter really killed us. Offensively we really didn't have anything going. I give Massac credit. They played a really smart game tonight. Our guys were hustling and working hard but there were times when they (Massac) made smart, intelligent plays and tonight they were the better team,” said Coach Fehrenbacher.

Ande closed out his final minutes with six fourth quarter points.

The Bulldogs connected on just 22-of-62 from the floor overall (35.4 percent) and only 4-of-18 from beyond the 3-point line.

“I've been coaching 26-years and I've never had a player with the offensive firepower like him,” said Coach Fehrenbacher about Cameron Ande. “A kid like that is like a 'once in a lifetime' player for a coach. He scored over 800-points just this season and over 600 last year. Over 1,400-points in two years is pretty good. He had a 50-point game this year and multiple 30-point games. He is a very special player. It was an honor to coach him.”

Massac County ended up 28-of-55 (50.9 percent) and 6-of-19 from the arc.

The Patriots committed just eight turnovers with none of them coming in the fourth quarter when the put the game away and won the rebounding battle 34-29.

Coach Joe Hosman's club has three victories over Vienna this season, including a 77-63 victory in the title game of the Metropolis Superman Classic back on January 20.

“Kris (Garnett) did a really good job on Ande in the second half and he (Ande) is a great player,” said Coach Hosman. “We want to just take this win and advance to the next game. We haven't won three in a row in a while and we'll take our chances,” said Coach Hosman.

Harrisburg (59) - Ande 8 2 9-11 31, Young 2 0 0-0 4, Rider 0 0 0-0 0, Henshaw 1 2 0-0 8, Mann 4 0 0-0 8, Rann 4 0 0-0 8. 2FG-17/3FG-4/FT-9-11/PF-16.
Massac County (77) - Garrett 4 0 1-2 9, W. Harmon 4 5 2-2 25, Box 2 0 7-9 11, Hosman 9 1 4-6 25, Lee 1 0 1-1 3, Turner 2 0 0-0 4. 2FG-22/3FG-6/FT-15-20/PF-14.
Fouled Out – None
Technical Fouls – None

Carmi-White County (47) - Holloman 2 2 2-4 12, Edwards 2 2 0-0 10, Driscoll 5 1 0-0 13, Stockton 1 1 0-0 5, Dixon 2 0 0-0 4, Haywood 0 1 0-0 3, Millhorn 0 0 0-0 0, Marvin 0 0 0-0 0, Huff 0 0 0-0 0, Sauls 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-12/3FG-7/FT-3-6/PF-16.
Vienna (73) - Holhubner 2 0 0-0 4, Nichols 1 0 3-3 5, Webb 4 0 2-2 10, Constante 3 1 0-0 9, Treat 5 3 6-7 25, Clay 1 0 0-0 2, Waters 3 1 0-0 9, Johnson 2 0 0-1 4, Winterrowd 1 0 1-2 3, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Moore 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-23/3FG-5/FT-12-15/PF-6.
Fouled Out – None
Technical Fouls – None