By the time the Patrick Henry boys basketball team hosted Hanover Friday night, the Patriots had been in a swoon, losing three games they felt they should have won.

  That swoon looked as if it was going to continue when the Hawks, with deadly 3-point shooting in the third quarter, mounted a furious comeback that made it look like the Patriots might be on the way to their fourth defeat. But a couple of missed Hanover shots and greedy Patrick Henry rebounding in the fourth quarter shifted momentum back in the Patriots’ favor and they held on to win 64-56.

  A solid performance by Raymon Minor keyed Patrick Henry’s win. Minor finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds, but he was modest in his assessment of his performance.

  “I did OK. I didn’t do my best,” Minor said. “I forced a lot of shots I shouldn’t have took.”

  The Patriots (2-3) dominated the first half while Hanover – in its first game of the season – had to rely upon its three-point shot. But the Hawks knocked down only three as they stumbled to a 28-14 halftime deficit. However, in the third, the Hawks found the range, knocking down seven three-pointers as they took advantage of a 27-point quarter to close to within three points, 44-41, of Patrick Henry.

  The Hawks (0-1) stayed within two points of the Patriots for most of the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, but turnovers and missed shots in the middle of the quarter stalled their comeback.

  With the score 56-53, Patrick Henry began to pull away in the final two minutes when Hanover began sending the Patriots to the foul line.

  “That three is a great shot when it’s on, and they hit three or four tough ones,” said Patrick Henry coach David Wyatt. “But when they missed a couple, that got us motivated to do a little bit better job in our half-court offense.”

  Minor indicated solid fundamentals gave the Patriots the winning edge.

  “We just had to play good defense, get a lot of rebounds,” Minor said. “They came down and made it, we had to come back and make it. We had to knock down our free throws, too.”

  Patrick Henry was solid from the foul line, converting 13-of-19 attempts.

  Wyatt credited Rashad Lewis’ inside play with helping turn the tide back in the Patriots’ favor in the fourth.

  “Down the stretch in the fourth, we had Rashad Lewis rebounding the basketball,” Wyatt said. “I knew they couldn’t keep making those threes like that. They did a good job, great comeback, but then they missed a couple and we just owned the boards after that.”

  Hanover coach Troy Manns said that the three-point game was all they had to work with at first.

  “That’s all that (Patrick Henry) gave us. We just had to take what they gave us,” Manns said. “Patrick Henry did a very good job defensively the first half, and we had to make adjustments. We just have to rebound the ball better. That’s the bottom line.”

  Hanover was led by Dee Taylor with 23 points – 15 from 3-point range. Taylor also came up with several steals in the third and fourth quarters that the Hawks converted into points in their comeback run. Tyler Shannon scored 11 points – 9 from 3-point range. All of his points came in the third quarter. Greg Lewis scored 10 points.

  Kenny Mock scored 13 points for Patrick Henry.

  Manns never doubted his Hawks’ ability to get back in the game, but that wasn’t enough to win.

  “My guys are tough,” Manns said. “I knew we would come back. I wasn’t worried about that. … But you’ve got to rebound the ball – you’ve got to defend first. I thought we defended okay, but if you don’t rebound the ball, you’re going to lose the game, and that’s what happened.”
 
PATRICK HENRY 64, HANOVER 56
HANOVER (0-1) — D. Taylor 23, Haynesworth 3, Lewis 10, Peebles 6, Alexander 3, Shannon 11, Gilliam 0, Rogers 0. Totals—21 2-6 56.
PATRICK HENRY (2-3) — Morris 6, Mock 13, Lewis 4, D. Smith 5, A. Jackson
5, King 2, Minor 24, Wiltshire 3, D. Jackson 2. Totals—24 13-19 64.

Hanover…................ 8 6 27 15 — 56
Patrick Henry .....13 15 16 20 — 64

3-point goals — H—Taylor 5, Shannon 3, Peebles 2, Lewis, Alexander; PH— Minor 2, D. Smith.
Highlights: H— Dee Taylor 5 3- pointers. PH—Kenny Mock 10 rebounds.