Hatboro-Horsham takes disappointing loss at CB East

BUCKINGHAM >> There was no one specific play that cost the Hatboro-Horsham boys’ basketball team a chance to win on the road.

There was a decently long list, some things glaringly obvious and others not so much, that factored in as the Hatters fell 37-36 at Central Bucks East Thursday night. But no matter the action or the timing of it, they all had one thing in common.

Chalk them all up, and it produced a disappointing loss.

“It’s a difficult place to play, but you can’t get out 7-0, 12-2 and expect to win against a team like (East),” Hatters coach Ed Enoch said. “We just came out, and I don’t know why, but it’s the third time in the last four or five games where we dug ourselves a major hole to get out of.”

Hatboro-Horsham had nothing going in the first quarter, falling behind 9-0 before Clifton Moore put the team on the board with 2:14 left in the period. East’s Matt Pattyson ended the quarter with a 3-pointer as the Patriots took a 12-2 lead into the second quarter and then kept it a 10-point game at the half.

Pattyson was the main reason for East’s good start. The guard made his first four shots, all 3-pointers and his teams’ first and last bucket in the first and second quarters. The Hatters had a bit of an uptick in the second quarter, scoring 10 points, but East played them to a standstill. Overall, it was a sleepy first half with neither team scoring over the final 3:40 of the second quarter.

“We got off to a great start with Pattyson hitting the 3s and as good as it feels to hit some shots, it comes down to the defensive end,” East coach Erik Henrysen said, “I thought we did a great job defensively. They want to go out and they want to run, so we controlled that a little bit in the flow of the game and hitting some shots is always helpful.”

Enoch said his team had a really good practice Wednesday and he was disappointed to see it not carried over into the first half. But, the Hatters did find some life in the locker room at half and after falling behind 25-14 with 5:07 left in the third, showed they had fight left. Two technical foul free throws by Moore sparked a 6-0 run to cut the lead down to five, then Zeke Sloan answered a Patriot hoop with a wing trey off a feed from Moore.

Unfortunately for Sloan and the Hatters, the guard went down under the East basket on the next defensive position and left the game with a right ankle injury after he had made it a four-point game.

Another triple from Ryan Black opened the fourth quarter as the Hatters got back within one with 7:45 to play. Even after East’s Tommy Strasburger split a pair of foul shots, the Hatters couldn’t capitalize. Turnovers on consecutive possessions allowed Chris Reilly to hit two foul shots and center Blake Peterson to hit a short jumper and push the lead back to six.

“We made too many mistakes down the stretch,” Enoch said. “They had something to do with it. Pattyson came out and made four 3s in the first half, we weren’t counting on that but the kid can play, he can get his feet set and really shoot the ball, He’s a good player and he hurt us.”

Jay Davis scored with 3:08 left to get some momentum back on the Hatters’ side, then Moore followed with a foul shot to cut it back to 32-29 with 2:33 to play. Strasburger hit two freebies but Davis came back down and canned a 3-pointer with 1:14 left to make it 34-32.

Davis tied Moore for the team lead with 11 points but both players were forced into some tough shots by East’s defense. Davis also had a bout of bad luck when he drove in late in the fourth quarter, only to see a layup roll halfway down then pop out.

After Davis did get one to go with 49.8 left, slicing the East lead to 35-34, the Hatters were again struck by more miscues. Brian McEachern, who had a strong all-around game, forced a steal at midcourt, but lost the ball going up for a would-be tying shot, then after Strasburger missed a foul shot, the rebound was knocked around and went off a Hatter, giving the ball back to East.

Reilly hit two more foul shots then East defense smothered Hatboro-Horsham’s final possession with 15 seconds left, leaving them to take a layup with just one second left, allowing East to survive.

“You can’t spot them, especially with their style,” Enoch said. “They’ll take 45 seconds off like it’s nothing. You give them a 12-2 lead and you have to work pretty hard to come back on a team like this. We did, and I was proud of our effort but you just can’t spot them that advantage.”