By Anvil Welch
awelch@joplinglobe.com
Quick-starting Hillcrest rarely seemed to let up in easing past Joplin 60-41 in an Ozark Conference boys prep basketball game on Tuesday night in Kaminsky Gymnasium.
The aggressive Hornets, fueled by 6-foot-3 junior Derek Chaney, improved to 14-6 overall and 4-2 in the Ozark and dropped the Eagles to 10-12, 2-4 entering Friday’s league test at Springfield Kickapoo.
Chaney, who transferred to Hillcrest as a freshman from Humansville (north of Springfield), poured in 29 points with an assortment of moves driving to the basket.
Cold-shooting Joplin, which trailed 16-9 after one period and 29-21 at the half, had a chance to pare the deficit to four points early in the second half. The Eagles, early in the final period, missed from the field with an opportunity to cut the deficit to six.
“We won’t beat anyone shooting 12-of-40 from the field,” Joplin coach Tim Spiers lamented. “We stood around too much on offense.
“We fell behind with Chaney cutting back door for baskets and we were losing him,” Spiers said. “We didn’t make good adjustments to stop him.
“It crippled our offense when we lost Derek Stokes in the first quarter with a hamstring problem,” Spiers said.
The spill that relegated Stokes, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, to cheerleader status came at 4:43 of the first.
Chaney, meanwhile, was strafing the Eagles. He had 12 of the Hornets’ points in the opening period.
Justin Lierz’ layup on a nifty feed from sophomore reserve Sam Smith capped the quarter.
“We shot the ball well,” Hillcrest coach John Schaefer said. “We tried to push the ball a lot. We capitalized on some early turnovers and we were able to get into a good rhythm.”
Hillcrest built a 12-point lead midway through the second quarter before two free throws by Phillip Davis and two baskets in a row by Je’von Hackett rallied the Eagles within six.
But Chaney drilled two free throws with only 2.1 seconds left for the Hornets’ eight-point halftime advantage.
Chaney again was on fire to open the second half. He tallied nine in the third quarter and his trey opened up an 11-point lead at 38-27.
The Hornets’ Brock Shaffer, 6-0 junior who finished with 12 points, beat the buzzer with his second trey for a 43-29 spread entering the fourth.
Reserves Matt McCreary, 6-2 sophomore who sank two 3s, and 5-9 senior Hackett were the scoring leaders for the Eagles with 10 and eight points, respectively.
