Bishop Hartley 68, Big Walnut 60
Hawks pick up their sixth straight win and take down the undefeated Golden Eagles
Written by 270 Hoops staff writer Greg Glasser
SUNBURY, OH - The holiday season is a time for giving and receiving and with Christmas day just two sleeps away, Bishop Hartley was in the Yuletide spirit as they gave Big Walnut their first loss of the season and in return, received the gift of another high quality non-league victory.
The Hawks traveled to Sunbury and despite only holding a three point lead around the final two minute mark, Hartley never trailed and left with a 68-60 victory on Tuesday night.
Headed into the evening as winners of five straight, the Hawks stormed out to a 9-2 lead as they created five turnovers before the Golden Eagles were able to get a field goal attempt.
Hartley would have leads of 12 and 11 at various points in the third quarter, but Big Walnut continued to respond, which kept the Hawks’ scoring advantage to stay within single digits.
After a Quentin Easler bucket halfway through the fourth period gave the Hawks a nine-point lead, Big Walnut junior Carson Scholl responded with back-to-back threes.
The Eagles would again get within three after Hartley sunk two free throws but then defensive miscommunication on the inbound led towards an easy Eli Stumpf score. Yet the Hawks would score the next eight points in the final 1:34, six of which came from the foul line, that sealed their win.
“[Big Walnut head coach] Aaron Stumpf is a really good friend of mine, he’s a really good coach and they were undefeated, so there wasn’t one point in the game we thought they’d go away. So when they kept throwing punches, we thought that would happen,” Bishop Hartley head coach Andreas James said after the game. “Credit to them, they stayed aggressive, but I’m pleased with our guys. We have a veteran team. We do have expectations for them to stay composed and poised down the stretch and we trust our guys to finish.”
That veteran group consists of five senior starters, all that scored five or more points, but perhaps most importantly, went an impressive 17-of-19 from the charity stripe.
Despite a collective team effort, it was an all-star performance from senior Caleb O’Neil that helped pace the Hawks with 26 points, just two short of his career high.
