Hampshire falls to Moline

Coach Bob Barnett ticked off the reasons Hampshire lost to Moline.

"Twenty-one turnovers, 3-for-10 free throws," he recounted. "We had 13 turnovers in the first half. And I believe they had 9 offensive rebounds to go along with 13 turnovers."

For all that, the Whip-Purs found themselves just 5 points down in the waning moments. They whittled away at an 18-point second-half deficit, but it was too little, too late, and the Maroons hung on for a 54-49 win at the Chuck Dayton tournament in DeKalb.

Moline advances to the semifinals Friday night while Hampshire (8-2) drops into the consolation bracket at 3:30 p.m. Friday against West Chicago.

All of the Whips' mistakes came back to haunt them during an 18-5 run by Moline bridging halftime. The Maroons turned a 16-16 tie into a 36-21 advantage in the third quarter. Moline eventually pushed the margin to 48-30. But the Whips weren't through, scoring 10 straight in the fourth quarter to get within 51-44 on a driving layup by Jake Tuttle with 2:30 left. But Hampshire simply ran out of time.

No one hit double figures for Hampshire, with Matt Bridges, Brennen Woods and Austin Spaeth notching 9 points apiece. Jake Tuttle finished with 7 points, and added 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and a block.

Moline didn't exactly put on an offensive exhibition in the first half, shooting just 32 percent on field goals and 40 percent on free throws, but the Maroons still led by 7 points thanks to the turnovers and offensive rebounds. The Maroons used quick hands on defense and aggressive half-court trapping to give the Whip-Purs' ballhandlers fits.

Hampshire shot much better at 47 percent but had just 17 attempts. Once the Maroons found their shooting touch in the second half, they began to stretch the margin.

Hampshire finished the game shooting 43 percent to Moline's.

"We might have shot well, but we didn't play well," Barnett said. "We didn't play with brains."

Bailey Basala scored 15 points and Andy McLaughlin added 10 for Moline.