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King’s big game boosts Hughesville as it reaches Tournament final

By Chris Masse 7 min read

HUGHESVILLE–Landen King often is the player who casual basketball observers may miss. He might not light up the scoreboard, but he literally does about everything else and is the type of player every good team needs.

That remained true Thursday night against Sullivan County at the Bill Babcock Christmas Tournament as well. But this time, King could not be missed by anyone Not when he made a first quarter steal and threw down an impressive one-handed dunk that would make Zach LaVine smile. That slam was part of a 20-point Hughesville run, showed off King’s freakish athletic ability and highlighted a 47-34 win.

Hughesville’s Swiss Army Knife, King grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, made three steals and blocked two shots as two-time defending champion Hughesville (2-4) earned a spot in Friday’s championship against Jersey Shore, a rematch of the last two finals. Dylan Bieber scored a game-high 14 points off the bench, Carter Cowburn pulled down eight boards and Hughesville produced its best defensive effort of the season.

“Getting the steals and blocks and rebounds; I love doing those things,” King said. “It’s a team game and that’s what I focus on.”

King is the consummate team player and also one who often hurts opponents in all kinds of fashion. He produced a double-double in his previous game against Danville and added seven points against Sullivan. A 6-foot-3 forward who handles the ball and runs the court like a guard, King flourished as a sophomore reserve last season. Now he is taking the next step this season.

King is capable of scoring more points moving forward, but on this night, Hughesville was content seeing the player who often lurks in the shadows jump into the spotlight.

“I’m glad he got that flashy thing because he literally does all the dirty work when he’s out there. Heás somebody you cannot, not have on the court. He just does everything,” first year Hughesville coach Cam St. James said. “He’s not a very vocal dude but the way he plays, everyone follows him which is really cool for a junior to be doing, especially on a team with six seniors. Landen is something else. He’s different.”

King showed that when his moment came late in the first quarter. Hughesville was starting to roll when King made a steal near midcourt. He has dunked many times during practices but never in a game. The opportunity felt right, so King went airborne.

As a defender tried catching up, King took flight and rattled the rim with his one-hand dunk. He literally had the student section jumping for joy and the reaction throughout the gym made it hard to think at that point. Just as important, the dunk was part of that 20-point eruption which put Hughesville up 22-3 midway through the second quarter.

“As soon as I got it, I knew I was doing it. I was thinking, ‘Will I do one hand or two hands?'” King said. “It was the first time, so I figured I was going to go for it. It was amazing to hear that (noise). It’s nothing I ever felt before.”

Hughesville entered the game as one of the better one-win teams entering the holidays in recent memory. The Spartans are quick, lanky, deep and possess good shooters but suffered four heartbreaking losses, including one in overtime. That’s why Thursday’s win was so important.

That goes double if this victory can serve as a springboard moving forward.

“We just needed to get over that hump,” St. James said. “It was big to get back home and get a win.”

Every Spartan had a hand in that win, too. Cowburn blocked four shots, point guard Cam Fetterman (9 points) ran the offense well and Jeff Fenstermacher and Ethan Woolcock played well off the bench. Bieber added seven rebounds to go with his 14 points and the Spartans clicked defensively like they had not yet done this season.

Hughesville forced Sullivan (4-3) into 20 turnovers, including 12 in the first half. When the shots were not falling in the first quarter, Hughesville turned up the defense and that fueled the offense. After erasing its only deficit, Hughesville held Sullivan without a point for nearly 11 minutes between the first and second quarters, seizing control against a team which opened its season with an impressive win against District 4 Class AAA title contender Troy.

“That’s been the focus since our last game. Scoring hasn’t been our issue. Getting them to really buy in on defense has been the big thing,” St. James said. “Once they buy in on defense and playing for each other defensively, we can get results like that. That was fantastic, coming against a good team.”

Sullivan can be a serious Class A championship contender but will need to learn from the mistakes it made against Hughesville. The Spartans created havoc with their defense, but Sullivan compounded the problem by going 3 for 21 from the field in the first half, including 0 for 8 from behind the arc. Making matters worse, Hughesville outrebounded the Griffins, 24-7 in the first half.

The Griffins fought back and twice cut the deficit to nine in the fourth quarter, but never could get any closer.

“We talked before the game about how important rebounds and turnovers are and then lost those battles. Even in the second half when we did claw back into it, we made a couple decisions on the offensive side where we shot ourselves in the foot,” Sullivan coach Glenn Vaughan said. “There were a couple plays in the second half we here building momentum and then we would turn the ball over. You just can’t do that.”

Trey Higley scored 11 points and took three charges for Sullivan. Riley King ignited a fourth quarter push by hitting two 3-pointers and added nine points. Landon Baldwin added five rebounds.

After starting 4-1, Sullivan has lost consecutive games. The Griffins showed how dangerous they can be in their opener and now it’s a matter of rediscovering what made a win like that happen.

“We were down 14 in third quarter against Troy and held them to three the rest of the way and won at the buzzer. We were together that whole game even when things weren’t going well,” Vaughan said. “But that’s not the team I’ve seen the last few games, so we just have to try and bounce back tomorrow.”

King made another critical play after Sullivan made it a nine-point game with five minutes remaining. Using a quick first step, King beat his defender to the right before splitting the defense and converting a layup. That ignited a quick 7-0 burst and all but clinched the win.

“The team came back. I think that play brought us back together,” King said. “We just said, ‘Let’s win this,’ and it got us going.’

SULLIVAN (34)

Ben Carpenter 2 2-4 6, Trey Higley 4 2-3 11, Riley King 3 1-2 9, Connor Smithkors 0 0-0 0, Maddox Bahr 0 0-0 0, Derrick Finnegan 2 0-0 4, Landon Baldwin 2 0-1 4, Tucker Blasi 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 5-9 34.

HUGHESVILLE (47)

Josh Heiney 1 0-0 3, Carter Cowburn 2 3-5 7, Dylan Bieber 5 3-4 14, Landen King 3 1-4 7, Cam Fetterman 2 5-7 9, Luke Kaiser 2 0-0 4, Ethan Woolcock 1 0-0 2, Jeff Fentermacher 0 1-4 1. Totals 16 13-24 47.

Sullivan 3 7 10 14-34

Hughesville 12 15 7 13-47

3-pointers: Sullivan 3 (King 2, Higley); Hughesville 2 (Heiney, Bieber).

Records: Hughesville 2-4. Sullivan County 4-3.

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