by Seneca Contomanolis
DigitalSports Richmond
Highland Springs coach George Lancaster and athletic director Rudy Ward setup the Springers’ three-Saturday series of matinee games to allow the team to play top-notch competition outside the Capital District.
The plan achieved that goal and had an extra bonus as top-ranked Highland Springs was victorious in all three contests.
The latest win came with the Springers defeating host Huguenot 66-58 this Saturday.
“We think it is good for the program to play marquee teams that aren’t in our district,” Ward said. “If you have visions of going far you have to see how you stack up. Even if you lose.”
Highland Springs (14-1) rolled over Meadowbrook 81-48 on Jan. 12 and then beat Petersburg 88-69 on Jan 19. Lancaster said the contests have a great atmosphere to play in and that they are good for the community.
Against the seventh-ranked Falcons Harry Lee Daniel led the way again with 21 points and Harvey Mills had 19 in front of a nearly sellout crowd.
“They’ve been with me since the ninth and tenth grades,” Lancaster said. “Kierre [Winfield] has really come on too and has played a good role. This is his first year as a starter but he has been on the team for two years.”
Winfield, a 6-3 senior forward, sored 13 points and was key on defense as 6-6 forward Dazmond Starke was on the bench for much of the game because of foul trouble.
The Springers led 15-8 after the first quarter and looked like they were ready to pull away in the second quarter, going up 22-8 on a Starke basket, three Mills’ free throws and a Winfield score.
David Brown‘s 3-pointer with 4:18 left were Huguenot’s first points of the quarter but Erick Scipio followed with a trey and then Jonathan Crawley (15 points) converted a 3-point play underneath. That sent the Falcons (10-6) on a 19-9 run to end the half, concluding with a Scipio 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“The main thing was that we weren’t turning the ball over in the press,” Huguenot coach Hannibal Tuck, who was filling in for usual coach Antone Exum because of administrative reasons, said. “We rebounded better today as well.”
After missing the second quarter with three fouls, Starke picked up a foul early in the third quarter and had to take a seat again. He finished with only four points.
It didn’t matter as seniors Chris Hilliard and Ryan Henderson stepped up inside and battled Huguenot’s big bodies Crawley and Jarius King. A four-point advantage at intermission was extended to nine by the end of the third quarter with Daniel scoring seven in the period.
“Ryan came up and gave us good minutes,” Lancaster said. “Hilliard came out and played better. Daz overshadows him sometimes but he shouldn’t.”
Both teams had their best scoring quarter in the fourth with Crawley contributing nine in the period for Huguenot. For every big Crawley basket though, someone would answer on Highland Springs and the closest the Falcons would get would be the final deficit of eight.
“Well they [Huguenot] came out playing hard,” Winfield said. “It was a close game in the beginning but we did what the coach said and we came through with a win.”
Highland Springs 15 16 12 23 – 66
Huguenot 8 19 7 24 – 58
Highland Springs (15-1): Daniel 21, Winfield 13, Mills 19, Young 0, Starke 4, Henderson 2, Hilliard 7. Totals: 17 17-25 66. 3-point goals: Mills 4, Daniel.
Huguenot (10-6): Da. Brown 8, S. Brown 2, Sheppard 3, Nero 12, King 9, Scipio 9, Crawley 15. Totals: 16 11-20 68. 3-point goals: Scipio 3, Da. Brown, Sheppard.
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