The Hanover boys basketball team overcame early foul trouble and an explosive start from Lee-Davis to walk away with 68-52 win on Friday night.

  Playing their third game in as many days, (and their fourth in a week that may prove to be the turning point of their season) Hanover (5-6, 2-5 Capital) came into the contest playing their best ball. Prior to hosting Lee-Davis, the Hawks had won two of their last three games and even their close loss at No. 8 Henrico was a confidence builder.

  “We should have beat them,” said Hanover senior guard Dee Taylor. “Just a few shots here, turnovers, we were a few shots short of beating them.”

  Hanover head coach Troy Manns felt the Henrico game was a clear example of how far the Hawks have come this season. “We played well versus Henrico, defensively we played well,” he said “We had a turnover here or there but we went from turning it over 20 times the first time we played them to seven, which shows marked improvement. And defensively we’re getting better. When you improve defensively your offense will get better because you get higher percentage shots.”

  On the other hand, Lee-Davis (5-10, 0-7) came into Friday night’s contest winless in Capital District play and struggling for both identity and leadership.

  However, from the opening tip the Confederates looked like not only the better team on the court but the best team in the Capital District. Lee-Davis point guard J.D. Harvey took the opening tap, drove to the left side and drilled a jumper nine seconds into the game.

  A minute later it was Harvey, who led the C-feds with 13 points, on a drive to give L-D a 4-0 lead as Hanover struggled.

  Sophomore Sam Rogers finally got the Hawks on the board but Lee-Davis quickly answered off an inbounds play to Shrevon Clark.

  It appeared the Hawks were finally on track at the six minute mark when senor Greg Lewis, Hanover’s standout guard, drove the length of the court and brought the Hanover fans to their feet with a resounding dunk to trim Lee-Davis’ lead to 6-4. But seconds later Lewis picked up his second foul and went to the bench, leaving the Hawks without their star player.

  “We don’t like anything easy,” Manns said. “I don’t know why but we don’t like doing anything easy. He comes out right at the beginning and gets two fouls.”

  In Lewis’ absence, Lee-Davis ran off seven straight points. Logan Dandridge nailed a three from the left baseline then Jordan Boze scooped in a hook and Harvey connected on a short jumper for a 13-4 Confederates’ lead.

  The explosive start even caught Lee-Davis head coach Trip Metzger somewhat off guard.

  “I told them that was the best we’ve ever come out of the gate,” Metzger said. “That’s been our biggest problem this year is not coming ready to play. I don’t know what got into them, whether it was the rivalry or what, but they were so inspired coming over here. I could tell during the warm-ups during the girl’s halftime, they were dunking the ball doing all kinds of stuff and I said, ‘Man, they’re ready to play’ and we came out, hit them in the mouth early.”

  On the other end of the court Manns was equally surprised by Lee-Davis. “They looked very good,” he said. “I was nervous. They came out and they didn’t miss anything and we couldn’t make anything. We were 0-6 from the free throw line. We’d get a steal then turn it right back over. It was such a great atmosphere and environment for a high school basketball game I think our guys were too excited and had to calm down a little bit.”

  But then, as has been the problem all season for Lee-Davis, the youth of the team resurfaced.

  Meanwhile Hanover regrouped and in the absence of Lewis, other Hawks began to step to the forefront. “It’s an opportunity for another player to step up and that’s what it’s all about and guys are taking advantage of that,” Manns said.

  Among those were Taylor, Justin Peebles, Uzman Mahmood and Nick Douglas.

  “Somebody goes down, somebody else has to step up that’s the way it is,” Manns said.

  It was Taylor who best seized the moment without his sidekick Lewis on the floor. “Those two guys I think they play well together but Dee had an opportunity to take a leadership role a little bit more and he did a good job with it,” Manns said.

  Taylor, along with Peebles, led Hanover with 15 points each and the Hawks defense began to repeatedly forced Lee-Davis turnovers.

  Peebles drilled a three form the right wing then Wil Atwood scored on a put-back and suddenly the Hawks were within four.

  Boze answered with an eight foot jumper but it was Lee-Davis’ final score of the quarter.

  In the final 21 seconds, Taylor connected on a three and Peebles added two free throws to trim L-D’s lead to one, 15-14, heading into the second. From there the Hawks kept plugging away to hold a 31-26 lead heading into the locker room and a 48-35 lead at the end of the third.

  Metzger felt taking an early lead could have been the C-feds’ undoing.  “We’ve played from behind all year and we’re still looking for our leaders and we’re still looking for guys stepping up in the leadership roles,” he said. “So when the tough got going we didn’t really have anybody to turn to. Then they trapped us and trapped us and trapped us, our guards kept trying to dribble through it.

  “We’re not a very smart team ball handling is one of our weaknesses and a lot of teams in the district know that,” Metzger said. “They’re going to trap us, we’ve got to have some guys step up. We’ve got to have some guys step up. We’ve got to be able to go left every now and then. I think we took it right 100 percent of the time. They just kept setting a trap on us and our guys would dribble into it with their head down and can’t see the open man, turn it over and frustration foul on the way back.”

  When Lewis returned for the Hawks he repeatedly burned Lee-Davis with penetration by being fouled on drives to the basket. In the second half alone, Lewis was 8-for-12 from the free throw line and finished with 14 points.

  Hanover’s lead swelled to 23 with less than three minutes to play before Lee-Davis made a final run to close within 16 at the end.

  “They came out, they punched us in the mouth first,” Taylor said. “But we didn’t take that. We picked up the pressure. The first half wasn’t pretty but the second half we came out and played real hard.”

  With wins in three of their last four games, Taylor feels that he and his teammates are definitely on the right track. “I think we’re playing phenomenal,” he said. “It’s great and we can only get better. We’re going to work on our press in practice and I think we’re going to come out and shock some people.”
 
HANOVER 68, LEE-DAVIS 52
LEE-DAVIS (5-10, 0-7 Capital) — L. Dandridge 5, Harvey 13, Abbott 0, Powell 4, Kunca 0, T. Dandridge 4, Spengler 0, Boone 0, Bolden 0, Clark 13, Bassett 0, Boze 13. Totals 21 6-14 52.
HANOVER (5-6, 2-5) — Taylor 15, Douglass 3, Rogers 6, Lewis 14, Peebles 15, Alexander 1, Shannon
2, Mahmood 8, Gilliam 0, Atwood 4, Ellis 0. Totals 19 24-39 68.
Lee-Davis ............ 15 11 9 17 — 52
Hanover…............ 14 17 17 20 — 68
3-point goals — L: L. Dandridge, Harvey, T. Dandridge, Boze; H: Peebles 3, Taylor 2, Mahmood.
Highlights — H: Sam Rogers 5 assists, 5 steals; Greg Lewis 10 of 15 from the line.