Hampshire stymies Woodstock North

Hampshire clung to a narrow lead against Woodstock North for most of the first half. But after the Thunder's Josh Jandron went out with his fourth foul early in the third quarter, the Whip-Purs started to pull away, finishing with a 72-59 win in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division boys basketball action Saturday afternoon in Woodstock.

About the time Jandron left the game, Matt Bridges came alive for Hampshire. He scored 20 of his game-high 25 points after intermission. Drew Doran and Ryan Cork added 13 apiece for Hampshire (11-13, 7-3).

Bridges was open because the Thunder was overplaying Cork. His penetration kept the Thunder off guard and often left Bridges open underneath.

“When he gets into the lane its pretty much deadly, because he sees the floor real well,” said Hampshire coach Bob Barnett. “What happened, too, is that when (Jandron) picked up that fourth foul, a lot of steam went out of them.”

Cork agreed that Jandron's foul trouble helped fuel the Whip-Purs' late run.

“When double-0 (Jandron) picked up his fourth foul, I knew we were going to make a run at it,” he said.

Hampshire led just 35-32 at halftime. Shortly after Jandron went out, the Whips went on an 8-2 run to open a 49-40 lead. The Whips led by between 7 and 15 throughout the fourth quarter.

Austin Spaeth chipped in 8 points for Hampshire. Bridges, Cork, Spaeth and Bennen Woods grabbed 7 rebounds apiece.

Both teams made 24 field goals, but Hampshire shot 12 more free throws than the home team, making 23-of-28 from the line. Bridges went 9-for-10 from the foul line, and Spaeth was 4-for-5.

Nik Herscha had 17 points for Woodstock before fouling out. Leonel Ortiz added 14 and Jandron finished with 12.