Hilton saw their 12-point late third quarter lead melt away, were tied with Churchville-Chili 60-60 with four minutes remaining, and made only half of their ten free throws over the final two minutes, but escaped with a 68-65 win in the boys basketball opener for both squads.
The Saints jumped out to an eight-point first quarter lead as senior Kamerin Poromon hit a trey and field goal, seniors Griffin Stella and John Bagley hit jumpers, and senior John Keele added a three-pointer.
But Hilton closed the opening stanza with a 10-0 run to retake the lead as senior Peter Reyes hit consecutive baskets during the stretch.
The Cadets stayed hot offensively in the second quarter, closing with an 18-6 run with six different players scoring to lead by nine at half-time.
The lead extended to as many as 12 points before it was Churchville-Chili’s turn with a 9-1 spurt to end the third quarter as Keele scored four, senior Collin Cantrell a pair of free throws, and Poromon a trey to close the deficit to four.
Stella hit a turnaround jumper and Poromon converted after a steal to open the fourth and tie the game 55-55. After a Hilton basket by senior Najier Daniels, the Saints took the lead as Cantrell knocked down a trey and Stella a lay-up, but Hilton senior Tah-jae Hill tied the game with a trey with four minutes remaining and followed with an old-fashioned three-point play with 2:21 left to give the Cadets the lead for good.
“It didn’t go how I wanted it to,” Hill said. “Came out a little rusty and had to get into the game and let it come to me and I felt like I forced a couple of shots, but our team got a win, our team bought in and listened to coach and stayed together as a team.
“It was shaky, it was ugly but we still got the win and we need to move on from there. Our communicating fell in second half and we weren’t talking as much, we were switching how we normally switch in the first half. If we can do that the whole game like we did in the first half, then we can put them away early and not have to fight back like we did.”
Hill finished with a team-best 25 points for Hilton and added a pair of steals, while Daniels, junior Landon Ciliberto, senior Colin Burkis, and sophomore Preston Prince each added seven points to the Cadets offense. Reyes led with seven rebounds and junior Ryan Kurtz added six boards.
“I think we’ve got some guys that give us a bit more depth…trust is growing and guys are earning their keep,” Hilton head coach Troy Price said. “We got some good things to build upon and some guys came in and contributed, but we’ve things to work on, too.”
The Saints were led offensively by Stella’s double-double with 25 points and ten rebounds. Poromon finished with 19 points, Keele 13, and Cantrell nine.
“We are the benefactor of six kids who got a lot of minutes last year and they know how to grind out possessions and our motto this season is to win every moment,” Churchville-Chili head coach Tim Miller said. “You hate to get the consolation prize losing by one possession, but to put ourselves in that situation to come back, take the lead and have an opportunity to win the game was huge.”
