Holly Pond wins third game in four days

Published 2:56 pm Saturday, December 31, 2005

The Holly Pond Broncos are struggling no more.

After going 2-13 to start the season, the Broncos went 3-1 in the Oneonta Holiday Classic, capped off by a thrilling 66-64 win over the Vinemont Eagles on Friday night.

“It was good to come over here (Oneonta) and get three wins,” said Holly Pond coach Mitch Morris. “This could be a great turnaround for us. I hope this helps the team and takes us to another level.”

Holly Pond was led by Daniel O’Brien and all-tournament selection Jordan King. O’Brien finished with a game-high 28 points, including the game-winning shot with two seconds on the clock.

King added four points for the winning squad, Patrick Kliegl had 14 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter, and Brent Deese added eight points.

The Broncos opened the game with a 14-11 lead at the end of the first quarter, after six lead changes during the quarter. Kliegl had five points and O’Brien had six for Holly Pond.

Joe Bryan scored nine of Vinemont’s first-quarter points and Eric Chambers had the other two. Bryan ended the game with 18 points.

All-tournament selection Jay Hembree opened up his scoring with two-consecutive treys to give Vinemont a 19-17 lead with 5:29 left before intermission. Kliegl downed a 3-pointer and Bailey Easterwood hit a runner off the left side for another Bronco lead late in the half.

The game was tied three more times before time expired and both squads headed to the locker rooms knotted at 28.

Holly Pond came out of the locker room on a mission and scored seven unanswered points for a 35-28 lead.

Steven Pollard ended the Eagle drought with a shot underneath and numbed the onslaught. Pollard had seven points in the quarter for Vinemont and finished with nine in the game.

The Eagles closed the gap to within two points, but found themselves down 45-40 going into the final stanza. O’Brien notched 10 of his points in the quarter.

Hembree caught fire in the final quarter, scoring 16 of his team-high 24 points. Hembree gave Vinemont the lead 51-49, nailing his third trey of the quarter with just under six minutes left to play.

It was the first-Eagle lead since midway through the second quarter, when they led 21-20. There were a total of eight-lead changes in the final five minutes of the game.

Holly Pond took a 64-61 lead with 43 seconds on the clock. Hembree then strolled down the court and nailed a trey from way beyond the point to tie the game with 21 seconds.

The Broncos proceeded to work their way down court, giving the ball to O’Brien on the post. O’Brien worked his way in on Zach South and put the shot in for the win and improving their record to 5-14 on the season.

Also scoring for Holly Pond were Easterwood with six, Tyler Kelsoe with four and Zach Qualls chipped in two.

Vinemont had Alex Feldner chipping in four points, South with three, and Eric Runge and Tyler Creel each with two.

Holly Pond next travels to Priceville Tuesday to take on the Bulldogs in a key area matchup. The Eagles travel to Blountsville to take on the J.B. Pennington Tigers Thursday.

– Good Hope 69, Horseshoe Bend 42 (boys): The Raiders were playing its fourth game in a row without starting-point guard Nathan Brown, due to an illness with pneumonia and bronchitis.

The Raiders came out flat to start the contest and trailed Horseshoe Bend 13-10. Ty Hardnett led the Generals with nine points in the first quarter.

There were six lead changes in the first half and four ties, with the last one 21-21. Alex Richter got eight of his game-high 18 points to end the half and gave Good Hope a 29-21.

Good Hope (10-8) used a strong third quarter, scoring 22 points and holding their opponents to a dismal four points and led going into the final quarter 51-25.

Nathan Walker scored 10 points and pulled down three rebounds for Good Hope. Jared Ibrahim had 11 points, Schuman finished with nine points and two assists, and Jerrod Fite had six points.

Nick Walling added six points and two assists, Brody Whitlock had five points, eight boards and five assists, Justin Ray finished with two points and five assists, and Jaime Epperly added two each in points and assists.

Good Hope next travels to take on the Fairview Aggies Jan. 7.

Email newsletter signup