Cold-shooting Huskies fall in regional semifinals

GREENSBORO — Hunter Huss held Lenoir Hibriten to eight points in the first quarter and trailed by two. But to Huskies head coach Ron Bray, it felt like a 30-point deficit.

The Huskies played poorly from the opening tip and paid the price in a 53-44 loss Thursday in the 3A Western Regional semifinals.

Hunter Huss shot a frigid 33.3 percent in the warehouse-like Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center, rarely got its transition game going and had a sizable disadvantage on the boards in its first regional appearance since 2006.

“Usually — even in a losing situation — somebody steps up, and I didn’t think anybody played to the level that we’re accustomed to them playing,” Bray said. “And you can’t do that on this level and against a very athletic team.”

Hibriten (20-9) will play for the 3A Western Regional championship noon Saturday on the same court against Concord (26-5), a 67-63 winner over West Rowan. Saturday’s winner will move on to the state title game.

Hunter Huss ended its season at 23-4 but could make another run next year with four starters returning.

None of them got into a rhythm on Thursday, though. Junior forward T.J. Wilson scored a team-high 12 points and pulled down five rebounds. Juniors Jontavian Hall and Jihad Wright, the team’s leading scorer for the season, finished with 11 points apiece. Hall also four assists while Wright dished three assists and had six rebounds. Jarvis Anderson, the fourth key junior, managed only four points but did pull down six rebounds.

Hunter Huss didn’t score its second field goal until the 7.5-second mark of the first quarter. The Huskies heated up in the second quarter to go ahead by as many as five. The game was back-and-forth until the fourth quarter, when Hibriten opened with a 12-4 run for a 47-40 lead that lasted.

Darius Lipford led the Panthers with 17 points and 13 rebounds. The UNC football recruit at linebacker shot 5-for-10 from the field and 7-for-8 from the foul line. Josh Dula, a future Lenoir-Rhyne football defensive back, added 14 points and two assists but shot only 6-for-18, including 2-for-10 from 3-point range.

The Panthers actually shot a tad worse than Huss, going 18-for-48 (37.5 percent) while the Huskies were 18-for-46. But Hibriten sank two 3-pointers to Huss’ one, attempted nine more free throws (making eight more) and held a 38-26 rebounding edge.

“We felt like we had to rebound,” Hibriten coach Roger Burgess said. “We talked about that a lot this week and we thought was one of the keys to the game.”

The Panthers scored 18 second-chance points on 14 offensive rebounds and held Huss off the offensive glass, allowing five boards on that end.

“I just thought we stood around and watched them rebound instead of compete with them,” Bray said.

Hunter Huss fell to 2-4 in the Western Regional. The Huskies last won a regional game in 1990.

Sterling Mack, one of five Huss seniors, added four points and a rebound. Sophomore Jordy Anderson scored the other two points.

Hibriten, the Northwestern No. 2 seed, eliminated both Big South Conference regular-season co-champions. The Panthers escaped Forestview 78-74 in the first round.

You can reach Phillip Gardner at 704-869-1843.