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HUGHESVILLE–Josh Heiney repeatedly broke down Bloomsburg’s aggressive zone defense. Dylan Bieber stretched it with four 3-pointers and Hughesville effectively moved the ball inside and outside all night.
This was a different Hughesville team than the one Bloomsburg pounded last month. This was a better team, a calmer one. Put it together and Hughesville produced an impressive win against a former nemesis while clinching a District 4 Class AAA playoff berth in front of a boisterous home crowd Saturday night.
Bieber scored 24 points, Heiney 18 and Hughesville made 60 percent of its shots as it defeated Bloomsburg, 73-65. The Spartans (11-3) beat Bloomsburg for the first time this decade, avenged a 56-30 December loss and showcased how far they have come since that game. Four players scored in double figures, the bench again played well and Hughesville rallied from a seven-point third-quarter deficit to hand Bloomsburg (10-3) just its second HAC-II loss.
“The first time we played them we were just hyperventilating that game and we didn’t have any poise on offense. At the practices leading up to this game we worked on their zone,” Bieber said. “They run a really aggressive zone, so we stayed poised and got it inside and kicked it out. That really is what helped us.”
“Coach said what would win the game is patience and I think we had a lot of patience tonight,” Heiney said. “We were always finding the open guy.”
Hughesville lost nine first-quarter turnovers, but once it cleaned up those mistakes it took off and made more than 50 percent of its shots in every quarter. The Spartans also scored at least 13 points in every quarter, including 44 in the second half when they turned a seven-point deficit into a nine-point advantage twice.
As usual it was not one or two players doing the lifting, but all the Spartans together. Nick Trevouledes again was big in the fourth quarter, scoring nine of his 11 points and adding four assists. Carter Cowburn (10 points, nine rebounds) nearly collected a double-double and scored eight points in the game-changing third quarter. Ethan Woolcock pulled down five rebounds and Cam Fetterman, Jeff Fenstermacher, Landen King and Mason Thomas all were strong off the bench.
Fetterman dealt five assists and came up huge on an early fourth-quarter sequence. Hughesville missed three shots, but the point guard rebounded each miss and it led to a Trevouledes jumper. Little things like that show up gigantic in big wins like this one.
“That’s really important,” Bieber said. “We have like six guys who can average about 10 points per game if they wanted to. That’s really huge for our team.”
Hughesville led by as many as seven in the first quarter, but Bloomsburg (10-3) rallied and took a 15-13 lead. That lead changed six times in the second quarter but Bloomsburg was up 33-29 at halftime and seven just seconds into the third quarter. The first time these rivals played, it was a close game through three quarters with Bloomsburg leading by seven entering the fourth before dominating the final eight minutes and winning big.
The Spartans would not let history repeat itself. Hughesville answered with a haymaker, going on a 12-2 run, taking a 41-38 lead and never trailing again. Bieber and Heiney ignited the run and Cowburn asserted himself inside scoring eight points that quarter. Hughesville closed that quarter strong as well with Fetterman making two free throws after drawing a last-second foul and giving it a 51-45 lead.
“It felt great. There’s not a better feeling than punching a team back when you’re down and then extending the lead,” Heiney said. “That’s huge. The biggest thing at keeping the lead was our defense.”
Hughesville forced six third-quarter turnovers and capitalized on those turnovers, excelling in transition. Bieber was outstanding, reaching a season-high in points while adding three assists and three steals. He also was clutch at the foul line, going 8 for 8 and showed all the tools which have coach Nick Tagliaferri saying he is one of the most talented players he has coached in 18 seasons at Hughesville.
And if Bieber consistently puts it all together, look out.
“His ceiling is legitimate because he has so many bad habits and he’s still working through them and we’re still working through them with him,” Tagliaferri said. “I love that kid and Dylan lets us coach him hard. The younger kids look at me like I’m an alien because I’m on him constantly, but he knows why. He knows he has ability and works like a dog for it. He has that big-game ability and he’s had it since ninth grade. There’s just a lot of bad habits that rear their ugly head through the course of games that we’re still working through with him.”
Heiney is another junior who has flashed big-time ability since his freshman season two years ago. He has come on strong since the start of the new year and helped set an early, aggressive tone against Bloomsburg. Heiney made two 3-pointers but was especially effective with his dribble-drive penetration which often led to him scoring or setting up his teammates for high-percentage shots.
Five quick points by Heiney fueled the third-quarter run and he made a huge basket off a drive with 77 seconds remaining, putting Hughesville up, 68-61.
“If there were two guys on me than I tried to just rip around them,” Heiney said. “I kind look for dump offs from there and attack the zone.”
“Josh Heiney is a tremendous basketball player. He just needed to grow up,” Tagaliferri said. “We put it on the table for him at the beginning of the season in terms of some of his bad habits and immaturity last year. He still doesn’t understand the talent he possesses. We’ve challenged him to grow up and he continues to develop in that area.”
Bloomsburg never went away and kept fighting back when it appeared Hughesville was on the verge of a knockout blow. Adam McGinley scored nine of his 26 points in the fourth quarter and the Panthers cut a nine-point deficit to 65-61 with 1:49 left before Trevouledes made a free throw and Heiney his key layup. Trevouledes added another free throw to make it a six-point game and Hughesville clinched the win when Fetterman found Fenstermacher for the layup which made it 73-65.
It was just the response Hughesville needed against a fellow district title contender which had given it first these previous three seasons. Hughesville was shut down for nearly two weeks earlier this month and is still playing without injured starter Luke Kaiser. That has forced the Spartans to switch things around, using a different look than usual and having some players learn new roles.
It is a process but Saturday was another step in the right direction, coming against a tough opponent.
“The last 3-4 years Bloom has absolutely had our number and that’s a credit to their kids. A big reason they were kicking our rear ends was because we were passive against their zone. They run one of the better zones in Central Pennsylvania and were much more poised, much more aggressive” Tagliaferri said. “It was a good win. It’s a league win, it’s late January and we’re at that time of year where we’re starting to ramp up and trying to become what we want to become. It never hurts to beat good teams. That can only help your confidence.”
BLOOMSBURG (65)
Daniel Gusevich 2 2-2 6, Madden Locke 3 5-7 14, Rae Grant 3 0-1 7, Jacob Evans 1 2-2 4, Nasir Heard 3 0-0 8, Adam McGinley 7 12-16 26. Totals 19 21-28 65.
HUGHESVILLE (73)
Josh Heiney 8 0-1 18, Nick Trevouledes 4 2-6 11, Dylan Bieber 6 8-8 24, Carter Cowburn 4 2-2 10, Ethan Woolcock 1 0-2 2, Landen King 1 0-0 2, Mason Thomas 0 0-0 0, Jeff Fenstermacher 1 1-2 3, Cam Fetterman 0 3-4 3. Totals 25 16-25 73.
Bloomsburg 15 18 12 20-65
Hughesville 13 16 22 22-73
3-pointers: Bloomsburg 6 (Locke 3, Heard, Grant); Hughesville 7 (Bieber 4, Heiney 2, Trevouledes).
Records: Hughesville 11-3. Bloomsburg 10-3.
JV Score: 42-34 Hughesville.