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Published: Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Hubbard spoils Rayen's finale

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The sharp-shooting Eagles ended the Tigers' basketball history, 66-51.

By JOHN KOVACH

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

BOARDMAN — Tuesday night turned out to be a sad time for The Rayen School boys basketball team.

The Tigers played their final game, losing to Hubbard, 66-51, in a first-round game of the Division II sectional tournament at Boardman High School.

But Rayen's cloud of sadness did have a silver lining of hope, because the Tigers, whose school will be razed later this year, can look forward to moving into a new East High School, a new gymnasium and new opportunity next school year.

Tuesday night, it was Hubbard's turn to celebrate the present and the future, as the sharp-shooting Eagles, led by Corey Hitt's game-high 23 points, made 26-for-50 from the field (52 percent) to break open a close game in the second half.

Hubbard (14-7) advanced to play Lakeview Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in a sectional final. The Eagles and the Bulldogs, both members of the Trumbull Athletic Conference, split a pair of games this season.

Several players help out

Robert Wigfall added 14 points while Kurtis Drummond had nine, Frank Rosile eight and Marc Kanetsky six to give Hubbard a balanced attack, helping them pull away from a 27-26 first-half lead. Drummond and Hitt also had seven rebounds each, while Drummond also had six assists and Kanetsky five.

Rayen made a game of it in the first half by getting the ball inside on offense, but Hubbard's defense dropped back in the second half, and took away the Tigers' inside game, and forced them to shoot from the outside — and they weren't hitting (only 18-of-62 for 29 percent).

"We packed it in and forced them to take outside shots. And we limited their outside shots," said Hubbard coach Rick Fox. "We had better penetration inside in the second half. Drummond and Kanetsky were penetrating and kicking it out to Hitt, and Wigfall was penetrating from a wing."

Boudrey, Hilton key Rayen

Bre Boudrey scored 12 points, including two 3-point goals, to lead Rayen, while Tomaz Hilton had 10 points, six in the first half from inside, and Kenny Carter nine and Nick Arrington six, to aid the Tigers. Darin Taylor contributed seven rebounds and five points, while Floyd Showers had three assists.

However, not only did Rayen's offense fizzle, but its defense faltered, too.

"We broke down defensively," said Rayen coach Jason McCray. "They beat us on a lot of back-door plays."

But McCray said what really ruined his Tigers was Hubbard's defense, which kept his offense on the outside.

"They packed it in the whole game. We got the ball inside in first half but we were not able to do that in the second half." As a result, "We were more perimeter-oriented in the second half," said McCray, whose Tigers simply couldn't find that net from a distance.

"Our field goal percentage was that bad, and we also were missing from the foul line, too. We basically gave the game away with missed shots," said McCray.

Hubbard pulls away

Wigfall and Hitt each had four points in the third quarter to help Hubbard build a 37-32 lead.

The Eagles padded their advantage to 43-35 to start the final quarter on three goals from Wigfall, Hitt and Kanetsky.

Then Hubbard reeled off a 13-8 run — Hitt leading the way with seven of the points — for a 56-43 advantage.

And the Eagles added another 8-5 run, capped by two fouls shots each from Kanetsky and Rosile, to make it 64-47 and seal the verdict.

kovach@vindy.com

Wednesday, February 28, 2007