Friday night the Hannibal boys basketball team took the same shots it did Tuesday against Moberly. The difference against Mexico: The shots when in.
Hannibal snapped a two-game losing streak and moved a game north of the .500 mark with a 65-62 win on the road against Mexico.
Hannibal is now 5-4, 2-1 in the North Central Missouri Conference.
“We played extremely hard and played very well out of the gate,” Hannibal head coach Matt Pugh said. “That’s kind of been our Achilles’ heel — when we have that slow start, we have a hard time digging out of it. The fast start was good for us.”
Hannibal controlled the game until the final quarter. Mexico turned thing up and almost took back the game, but Hannibal’s lead held up.
“We played really well for about 26 minutes,” Pugh said. “We gave up a real big fourth quarter that let them get back in it. There pressure — they turned the heat up on us late, but we were in control the entire game up until about five minutes to go in the fourth.”
Logan Hicks scored 18 points to lead Hannibal to the win. Christian Williams and Sam McBride also contributed to the win with 10 points apiece.
Tuesday against Moberly, Hannibal couldn’t seem to buy a bucket. Friday, the Pirates ‘luck changed.
“We hit some shots tonight, which was a big problem on Tuesday,” Pugh said. “We were taking the same shots but tonight we were hitting them.”
Although it wasn’t just luck that helped the Pirates turn the corner after an Tuesday’s loss.
“Wednesday’s practice was really a big key,” Pugh said. “We really got after it and fixed some things.”
Hannibal will return to action on Tuesday at the North Central MO Holiday Hoops Shootout. The Pirates will take on Savannah at 8:30 p.m.
