DONOFRIO CLASSIC: DeAndre Hunter scores 35, Hardnett tops short-handed We R 1
CONSHOHOCKEN >> We R 1 faced a Herculean task at the Donofrio Classic Monday night. It had to beat Team Hardnett — a team filled with Division I college talent — if it wanted to advance to Tuesday’s championship game.
That task became even more difficult when We R 1 only had five players show up. It battled for a while, trailed by only seven points with seven minutes left in the game, but eventually lost, 107-95, at the Fellowship House of Conshohocken.
That sends Team Hardnett, the defending champs, back to the title game.
Hardnett had four players score in double figures — DeAndre Hunter had 35, Nazeer Bostick 18, Daron Russell 15 and Tony Carr 13.
“I think they wore themselves out, honestly,” Hunter said of whether his team planned on trying to tire out a team with five guys. “They were trying to keep up with us. I mean, we had multiple players we could bring off the bench. Them trying to keep up with us made them tire themselves out. It really helped in our advantage.”
Hunter blew the game open late in the first half. After leaving the game after taking a hard foul and landing on his right wrist, he returned when Team Hardnett was trailing, 33-32.
“I just tried to play through it,” Hunter said. “I mean, it hurt a little bit but it wasn’t going to stop me from playing.”
Hunter rattled off the next 10 points to give his side a nine-point edge and begin an 18-3 run that put Hardnett fully in control, 50-35.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Hunter said of the Donofrio Classic. He scored 32 points last week in the quarterfinals. “There is a lot of attention not on me because we have a lot of other great players. So it just makes it easier for me to score and just play my game.”
Hardnett went into the break ahead, 54-40.
We R 1 slowly fought back and trailed, 87-80, with 7:13 to go.
It was Sean Simon — who scored 21 points on seven three-pointers — and Eric Dixon — who scored 19 of his team-high 30 in the second half — who got We R 1 back into it.
Kevin Anderson also helped make the game tight. The junior scored eight of his 18 in the second half, including a pair of highlight reel plays — a one-hand put-back jam and a pair of behind the back dribbles to set up an easy layup.
Hardnett took over from there, extending the lead to double digits and never letting it get much closer. Bostick scored 16 of his 18 in the second half, most of which came late in the game to help Hardnett pull it out.
Hardnett face the Old School Cavaliers — an 88-86 winner over Raw Sports in Monday’s second semifinal — Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
