Hall of Fame Classic: Notes from the Semi-Finals

<p>The annual Hall of Fame Classic tipped off early this morning with two semi-final games featuring Connersville vs. Westfield and Cathedral vs. Homestead. I was there at New Castle taking the action from The Largest and Finest High School Fieldhouse in the World. Here are some quick notes from this morning’s two games.</p> <h2>Westfield 51 Connersville 43</h2> <ul> <li>Westfield would build a 12-point advantage in the third period but ended up having to sweat this one out. Connersville made a late run in the fourth quarter getting it all the way down to a two-point game before eventually falling by eight.</li> <li>The Spartans point guard [player_tooltip player_id="1063975" first="Tobey" last="Billups"] battled serious foul trouble in the second half and eventually fouled out with a couple of minutes remaining. His absence for much of the final 16 minutes didn’t make things any easier for Connersville.</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="870222" first="Braden" last="Smith"] controlled the game for Westfield despite not even scoring in double-figures. The future Purdue Boilermaker made plays off of the dribble all game long finishing with 8 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists.</li> <li>Cam Haffner led the Shamrocks in scoring with 11 points. The senior guard knocked in a couple of big three-pointers at the end of the second and third quarters. [player_tooltip player_id="1063967" first="Nic" last="Depasquale"] and Alex Romack each added 10 points for Westfield as well. </li> <li>For Connersville, Kaleb Sparks led the way with 11 points all coming in the second half. The 6’4" senior forward knocked in three triples in the third quarter.</li> </ul> <h2>Cathedral 62 Homestead 50</h2> <ul> <li>This game started off heavily in Homestead’s favor. The Spartans jumped out a 13-5 lead triggering a timeout from Cathedral head coach Jason Delany. Three point shooting and six points from [player_tooltip player_id="1063961" first="Fletcher" last="Loyer"] would give Homestead a 17-12 advantage after the first quarter. However, their advantage wouldn’t last long.</li> <li>The Fighting Irish really got going in the second period as [player_tooltip player_id="1063971" first="Jaxon" last="Edwards"] started playing very well, [player_tooltip player_id="868252" first="Jaron" last="Tibbs"] got going, and [player_tooltip player_id="868219" first="Xavier" last="Booker"] nailed a pick-and-pop three. Cathedral would take a 32-30 lead into the halftime break.</li> <li>Homestead hung around through the third quarter as Loyer connected on a pair of threes and scored 10 points in the period.</li> <li>In the fourth, the Spartans went completely cold from the field and Cathedral was able to pull away. 6’8" senior center [player_tooltip player_id="1176168" first="Jaiden" last="Malichi"] scored 8 of his 10 points in the fourth to help secure the victory.</li> <li>Cathedral was led by [player_tooltip player_id="1063971" first="Jaxon" last="Edwards"] and [player_tooltip player_id="870212" first="Tayshawn" last="Comer"] who scored 15 and 14 points respectively. [player_tooltip player_id="868252" first="Jaron" last="Tibbs"] added 11 points while [player_tooltip player_id="1176168" first="Jaiden" last="Malichi"] had 10.</li> <li>For Homestead, it was future Purdue Boilermaker [player_tooltip player_id="1063961" first="Fletcher" last="Loyer"] scoring a game-high 28 points..</li> </ul>