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Hampshire loses tough one to Rochelle

Hampshire boys basketball coach Ben Whitehouse liked the effort his team displayed down the stretch against Rochelle Friday night at Sycamore's Strombom tournament.

The Whip-Purs whittled a 13-point fourth quarter deficit down to just 2, but ended up dropping a 58-55 decision as they failed to connect on a pair of long 3-point attempts in the final seconds.

Senior Billy Dumoulin and junior Nathan Cork tallied 13 points each to lead Hampshire (0-3) while Tre Powell added 10 points before fouling out with 3:28 left to play.

"We were the aggressor at the end, which is different from the last couple of games. We're showing growth already and that's a good sign," Whitehouse said.

"We have a lot of fight and we just want to put forth our best effort and put ourselves in positions to win each game," Dumoulin added.

The Whip-Purs, who take on District 300 rival Dundee-Crown on Saturday. did some damage from behind the arc early on as Cork hit a pair of trifectas and J.T. Shaw had another as they grabbed an 18-13 lead after one quarter.

Rochelle (2-1) answered by draining four 3-pointers during a 20-6 second quarter outburst against the Whips' zone, then connected on two more opening the third to extend the lead to 39-26.

"We didn't get a scout against them going against a zone," Whitehouse said. "Our guys made some quality adjustments at halftime, then we were able to mix up our trap, man-to-man and zone the last quarter and kept them off balance."

Still trailing 50-37 with just under 6 minutes left to play, Hampshire clamped down defensively and chipped away at the lead by making 9-of-10 free throws, coupled with 3-pointers from Dumoulin and Kevin Michaelsen.

The Hubs went 2-for-9 from the line and turned the ball over 7 times in the fourth quarter to aid Hampshire's comeback attempt, but Michaelsen's potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer went off the back of the rim.

"Man seemed to be the best way to stop them. We put some pressure on and started to force turnovers and clawed our way back into the game," Dumoulin said.

Senior center Nathan Gomez added 7 points and 6 rebounds for the Whip-Purs.

"We're definitely hungry and we're getting closer each night," Whitehouse said.

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