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Hampshire gets past Woodstock North

No. 401 didn’t come easily.

Before Friday night’s game, Hampshire held a short ceremony acknowledging coach Bob Barnett’s 400th career win on Tuesday.

The Whip-Purs got him to 401, but it wasn’t easy as Hampshire held on to defeat Woodstock North, 55-51, in Fox Valley Conference Fox Division boys basketball action Friday night.

Hampshire’s big men were dominant, as Shane Hernandez overcame early foul trouble to record 16 points and 6 blocks and Tyler Watzlawick added 13 points and 8 rebounds.

The Whips (12-8, 5-2) threatened to pull away several times, but the Thunder kept roaring back on the strength of 3-point shooting. The Whips led by 8 with 6 minutes left, but North came back again, getting with 1 point twice.

Down 3 with time running out, the Thunder missed a tying 3. Tyler Crater secured the rebound, got fouled, and made 1 of 2 free throws for the final margin.

“I was just looking for that one make, that one possession, to where we could get (the lead) to double digits and start to pull away, and it never happened,” said Barnett. “It goes in the left column, and we just come back Monday and go back to work.”

Hampshire has won 11 of 12.

Hernandez picked up his second foul halfway through the first quarter and sat the rest of the half. But he came back with a vengeance after the break, scoring 14 points and blocking 5 shots. In one sequence, he blocked 3 shots on one possession.

“Sitting the second quarter really hurt, but it made me get my mind back together and I came back strong,” he said.

Brock Ralphs added 9 points for Hampshire, and Crater finished with 7 points and 6 rebounds.

The Thunder hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of each of the first 3 quarters, which helped keep them in the game.

Konner Boron had 3 3-pointers among his game-high 18 points, and Steven Whiting added 12 points for Woodstock North.

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