For the first time since the Ed Davis era at Hanover, the Hawks’ boys basketball team earned a berth into the Central Region Tournament. In the Capital District quarterfinals, Hanover overcame a strong inside game from Armstrong with solid defense and their characteristic gritty determination to pull out an 80-68 win.

  The reward for Hawks’ seniors Greg Lewis, Dee Taylor and Stephen Alexander is a chance to play in their first ever Central Region Tournament. “It’s huge,” Lewis said. “It’s something Hanover hasn’t done in six-seven years. It’s big for us. We didn’t t think we were going to make it. We started off the season with six players and they were all guards and this is really big for us.”

  It was Lewis’ efforts down the stretch that held off the Wildcats and allowed the Hawks to hold on for the win.

  When Armstrong trimmed the Hanover lead to five early in the second half, Lewis took control to score 11 straight points for the Hawks and push the lead back to 10.

  “That’s what he’s supposed to do,” said Hanover head coach Troy Manns. “He’s a senior. It wasn’t one of those things where I had to say anything, just looked at him, go to work.”

  Early on it appeared the Hawks would fall victim to the quarterfinal jinx that has hampered Hanover County teams in recent years.

  Armstrong came out of the gate on fire, running out to a 6-0 as the Hawks did not score until nearly midway through the first. It was Taylor that got them going.

  With 4:35 in the period, Taylor drilled a three from the left baseline for the Hawks first points of the game. Twenty seconds later, Taylor drove into the lane and dished off a no-look pass to Tyler Shannon for a layup.

  “Dee did a great job as well and (he’s) a guy that doesn’t get a lot of credit,” Manns said.

  Though he did not make a huge dent in the stat book, the Hawks got a major lift the minute Stephen Alexander stepped onto the floor. Alexander clogged up the middle on defense, moved the ball well on offense, set screens and did everything a role player needs to do well to make his team successful.

  “He’s one of my favorite guys,” Manns said. “I told him his time will come and tonight was it. He stepped up, made some big shots and defensively he did a very good job of being in the right position. I’m very proud of him. He works hard.”

  Hanover finished the period on a 7-2 run to trim Armstrong’s lead to 16-14.

  Alexander nailed a three from the right wing seconds into the second period to give Hanover its first lead of the game and one they would not surrender. Taylor added a basket and Sam Rogers scored on a steal and layup to cap an 11-0 run leading back to the end of the first.

  Throughout the game, Rogers was a beast on the boards, diving for loose balls, driving into the paint and a constant nuisance for Armstrong ball handlers, so much so that Armstrong’s head coach complimented Manns on Rogers ability to intimidate the football players on his team.

  “Sam Rogers is tough as nails and our team reflects his mentality more than anybody because he’s not going to quit,” Manns said. “He had some really big rebounds and some layups. He draws the toughest guy every game and does a good job of it.”

  The Wildcats battled back to knot the game at 32 with 2:11 left in the half but Justin Peebles answered with a three out top to put Hanover out front again.
  Leading 38-34 at the half, Hanover’s defense provided an added cushion coming out of the locker room. Tyler Shannon, who led all scorers with 26 points, stroked a three 40 seconds into the period then the Hawks forced Armstrong into back-to-back turnovers, which allowed Hanover to go on a 8-0 run and pull ahead 46-34.

  But the Wildcats found an answer, going on a 14-3 run and pull within two, 50-48 with 1:57 to play in the third.

  Rogers then muscled his way inside for a plus-one field goal, Lewis stole the ball and was fouled on the ensuing shot and Shannon hit a jumper to widen the margin to 56-48.

  “The guys respond,” Mans said. “Everything (Armstrong) came with they had a response.”

  “You have to,” Lewis said. “The last time at Armstrong they pressured us and that’s how they won the game at the buzzer, so we knew we had to take care of the ball. We take care of the ball we win.”

  After Lewis’ fourth quarter run, Hanover hit 4-of-6 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

  For Lewis, the win came as a compliment to Hanover’s ability to play as a team. “Everybody’s stepping up,” he said. “Tyler Shannon made some big threes, Sam come up with some big rebounds, everybody gave something to help us win.”

  In the district semifinals, Hanover put a scare in #1 seed, host Highland Springs before a fourth quarter run broke things open.
 
  Springer Jarvis Threatt scored 17 of his game high 39 points in the fourth quarter to give the host team a 91-69 win.
 
  On the night, Threatt was 12-of-21 and pulled down 16 rebounds.
 
  Micah Thomas added 28 points for Highland Springs.
 
  Lewis led the Hawks with 25 points and moved past the career 1000 points mark.
 
  Peebles added 12 on four made 3-pointers and Shannon scored 10.
 
  On Monday night, Hanover opened regional play at Meadowbrook.

HANOVER 80, ARMSTRONG 68
ARMSTRONG (11-11) — Shands 0, Cook 16, Valentine 10. McLane 6, Herring 14, Dowling 16, Mealy 6. Totals 28 9-20 68.
HANOVER (12-8) — Lewis 18, Taylor 8, Alexander 7, Shannon 26, Rogers 13, Peebles 7, Douglas 1. Totals 28 12-21 80.
Armstrong…....... 16 18 16 18 — 68
Hanover…........... 14 24 18 24 — 80
3-point goals — A: Cook 2, Valentine; H: Shannon 5, Lewis 2, Taylor, Alexander, Peebles.
HANOVER (12-9) — Taylor 6, Douglass 6, Rogers 4, Lewis 25, Peebles 12, Alexander 2, Shannon 10, Gilliam 4. Totals 29 5-5 69.
HIGHLAND SPRINGS (21-2) — Wiggins 3, Threatt 39, Jones 0, Thomas 28, English 2, Porter-Williams 2, Crump 13, Crossin 4, Brooks 0, Taylor 0, Tinsley 0, Clarke 0, Jennings 0. Totals 32 21-26 91.
Hanover…............ 15 17 21 16 — 69
H. Springs…........ 19 24 21 27 — 91
3-point goals — Han.: Peebles 4, Lewis 2; HS: Thomas 3, Threatt 2, Wiggins.