View Photo Gallery 
After two winless years in league play, the Hanover High School boys’ basketball team now finds itself in an unusual position. A mere two weeks into the still young season, the Hawks sit at 2-0 and alone atop the Capital District following their 50-39 victory at Lee-Davis on Friday night. Hanover also holds a decided advantage over country rivals by having beaten both Atlee and Lee-Davis on their home courts.

  But, despite the final score, Hanover’s victory over the Confederates did not come easily.

  The contest was a matchup of contrasting teams. Hanover came into the game boasting a powerful, tall lineup across the front while Lee-Davis is a team of average height but scrappy demeanor.

  Against their taller opponents, part of Lee-Davis’ game plan was not difficult to forecast. The Confederates first goal was to get Hawks’ center Dylan Cole out of his game. “Our game plan was try to frustrate Cole,” said Confederates head coach Tripp Metzger. By driving inside Lee-Davis hoped to get Cole into foul trouble. However, the inside drives led to more blocked shots than fouls as Cole maintained his composure and led all scorers on the night with 18 points.

  “Every team’s going to try to come inside at first to establish something,” Cole said. “You’ve just got to keep taking it and you block it a few times, they’ll move out.”

  Hanover head coach Troy Manns said he was not surprised that the smaller Lee-Davis players attempted to force the issue early against the long arms of his center. “Dylan’s a big guy and when you go up against a big guy you have to attack him,” Manns said. “That’s a smart plan on their part, maybe get him in foul trouble. When he’s out of the game he’s not effective.”

  As far as the Hawks’ game plan, it was to contain C-feds go-to shooter Chris Cook who came into the contest as the district’s third leading scorer at 18.7 ppg. Hanover limited Cook to nine points. “Coach Manns did a good job of singling him out,” Metzger said. “He got into foul trouble early so he was on the bench, in and out and he never really got in a rhythm and that hurts our offense. We don’t have too many offensive weapons and when you take a main one out of the game like him, it hurt our offense.”

  Both offenses struggled at the start but with the lack of production from Cook, Travis Abele (14 points) took over the majority of the C-feds’ offensive attack, scoring eight points in the first quarter and giving Lee-Davis a 13-12 lead heading into the second period. 

  The Confederates’ Garrett Joyner pushed the lead to 14-12 seconds into the second stanza by hitting one of two free throws but then the offensive wheels fell off for Lee-Davis. They did not hit a single field goal in the quarter and scored a total of four points, all on free throws.

  Hanover’s offense did little better but with 5:11 left in the period, Drew Cryster (eight points) banked in a three to put the Hawks on top 15-14. It was a lead they would not relinquish.

  Lee-Davis worked on denying the ball from Hanover point guard Greg Lewis as well as Cole, forcing other Hawks to take up the scoring. To that point they were somewhat affective but Hanover got good performances from Jared Yaeger, Brice Goode and Danny Trsic.

  Manns was particularly happy with the play of Trsic, who came over from the football team and scored four points on the night. “He doesn’t always know what’s going on but he listens and he does exactly what you ask him to do,” Manns said. “He’s like a utility guy for us out there. He’s always in a different position but he figures it out.”

  A jumper from Yeager added to the Hanover lead and the margin remained three (20-17) as the teams headed into the locker room.

  In the second half, Cole pushed the margin to five, 22-17 on a put-back of a Lewis miss. But a three off and inbounds play and two free throws from Cook bracketed a jumper from Cryster to bring the Confederates within two, 24-22.

  But once again Lee-Davis went cold and did not score over the final 4:25 of the third.

  Meanwhile Hanover ran off nine straight points. Yeager scored on a short jumper and a three off a dish from Lewis. Cole added a jumper of his own on a dish inside from Lewis and knocked down a pair of free throws to send Hanover into the fourth holding a 33-22 lead.

  Lee-Davis’ woeful shooting carried over into the fourth where they did not score a point until the final minutes of the contest after Hanover had pulled ahead 39-22.

  Yet, in the closing minutes of the contest the Confederates suddenly found their shooting touch. With 3:01 left in the game, Dustin Abele hit a jumper and on the ensuing inbounds, Hanover’s CJ Phillips was called for an intentional foul. Travis Abele knocked down both free throws and on the C-feds inbounds Dustin struck again to cap a 6-0 run by Lee-Davis over a span of eight seconds, trimming the Hawks’ lead to 39-28.

  “It’s one of those things that as a coach is so frustrating,” Metzger said of Lee-Davis sporadic offense. “You know the guys have got it in them and you know it’s going to happen some time. You just hope it happens sooner than later. But tonight wasn’t our night. We couldn’t put the ball in the ocean. Credit their defense because they did get after it. They spread us out. They pushed us away from the hoop. They were more physical. They wanted it.”

  For Manns, the end-game run by Lee-Davis represented the area his team needs to work on most. “It’s just different towards the end of the game,” he said. “We’re not accustomed to being ahead. We’ve got to learn how to finish games.”

  Yet, as they did at Atlee,  Hanover hit 9-of-13 free throws down the stretch (six from Cole) to seal the win. 
 
HANOVER (2-0 Capital, 2-4) Taylor 0, Crytser 8, Trsic 4, Phillips 2, Gaines 0, Lewis 7, Yeager 7, Mo. Lankford 0, Dandridge 0, Ma. Lankford 0, Carroll 0, Cole 18, Lyons 0, Goode 4. Totals 18 12-20 50.
LEE-DAVIS (0-1, 2-2) N. Frame 0, Fegans 0, Cook 9, G. Frame 8, Harvey 0, Kyser 0, Joyner 1, D. Abele 4, T. Abele 14, Berry 1, Labons 0, Naumann 0, Boze 2. Totals 13 11-19 39 .
Hanover…... 12 8 13 17— 50
Lee-Davis…. 13 4 5 17— 39
3-point goals: H — Crytser, Yeager. LD — T. Abele 2, Cook, G. Frame. Highlights: H — Dylan Cole 18 points, 8-13 from the line.