Senior Night satisfaction

The finale at Korf was a successful one for Hannibal.

The Hannibal High School basketball team defeated Fulton 60-41 on Thursday, Feb. 9 as part of Senior Night.

Hannibal started the game hot with a 13-0 run and went ahead of Fulton 15-2 with 5:44 left in the first quarter.

Part of this could have been because of emotions. Hannibal honored its eight senior athletes on Thursday.

“Yes, it really was an emotional night for us,” senior Jay Jones said. “I’m happy and I’m sad at the same time. We came out here and had fun and played with my best friends out here.”

Jones said that he has been playing with this same group of athletes since the fifth grade and that many of them started playing together since the second grade.

The long time playing together has created something of a bond, Jones said.

“Outside of the court we’re all friends, it’s like we’re one big family,” the senior said.

The four seniors for Hannibal are Logan Hicks, Michael Shivers, Jones, Pravon McBride, Jordan Ingram, Christian Williams, Zach Voss and Connor Brown

In four season with Hannibal, Head Coach Matt Pugh said this group of seniors has gone a long way.

“We just talked about it in our locker room before they all left,” Pugh said. “They have come a long way. In their freshmen year, they ended that season 3-23. From the cellar up, they kind of started in the basement. They have worked and bought in to what we’re trying to give them. It was nice to see them finish the job and it is a good time to reflect on the last four years a little bit. It’s been a long road for those guys and I’m really proud of them.”

The emotion could have led to a slower second quarter, as Hannibal was out-scored 19-13 in that period of time, the only sequence of the game that saw Fulton out-score Hannibal.

The Pirates came bouncing right back. In the final half, Hannibal beat Fulton 29-17, which was highlighted by a Christian Williams dunk that had the crowd on its feet.
Pugh said he was happy that his team was able to recover from a slow second quarter.

“I felt like we had a great start and then from there we struggled to keep our energy level where it needed to be,” the coach said. “We kind of let them back in the game a little bit in that second quarter. We executed well enough to win, I think coming off that big emotional game Tuesday night, this was one of the concerns we had going in, can we muster it up one more time with a conference championship on the line? We’re really proud of our guys resilience and their ability to keep grinding and execute well enough down the stretch to get a W.”

With the group of seniors leaving, Pugh said he wants to see the group that follows them inherit the culture that this batch of seniors has helped to create.

“I think that we do some things really well, I think we stand for some core values and I think the biggest thing that I want to see for me and I speak for Coach Altheide and McPike as well, it will really come to light in four or five years from now when those guys are done with their college careers and on being successful citizens and successful young men that are doing all the right things and are seeing a lot of success in their life,” Pugh said. “Those are the things, the character, the work ethic and the commitment things that we do. Those are the things that I wish the most for our younger guys to kind of take from this group.”

Leading the way for the Pirates in scoring was Logan Hicks who had 16 points. Williams and Jones both had 10 points, Shivers had nine points, McBride had six points, Mitch Nichols, Eric Hugenberg and Jordan Ingram both had two points and Connor Brown had one point.

The junior varsity team also played, prevailing 50-34 over Fulton.

Jeff Damon led the team with 12 points, Nate Voss had nine points, Hugenberg and ‘Lijah Harrison both had seven points, Nichols and Gus Meyer both had four points, while Daniel Fohey and Peyton Munch both had three points.

Coach Craig Altheide said the offense played well on the night.

“I was proud of them for getting back from two tough losses,” Altheide said. “We’ve been struggling offensively, but we came out and played very well. Nate Voss and Jeff Damon had very good games tonight. Defensively they came out and had another solid game. Great team win and effort and we’ve seen a lot of improvement from the beginning with the JV team.”

Altheide said the team has progressed tremendously since the start of the season and has started to grasp onto Pirates defensive fundamentals and offensive schemes.

The next game for Hannibal is at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11 on the road at Marshall with a 12-0 conference record on the line.

Pugh said at the beginning of the year, he did not see this coming.

“You always hope to win them all, but it’s one thing to say that but a different thing to go out and do it,” Pugh said. “We understand that we’re still one away. Road wins are hard to come by and they are never easy. You have to fight hard and get through some adversity and scrap.”

The coach added, “I believe in this group of guys, they believe in each other and they believe in what they are trying to get done. With a concerted effort by everyone and if everyone sacrifices a bit of themselves for the betterment of the group, you can get a lot of things done as a group or a team.”

Jones said it would be big for the team to accomplish this.

“It would mean a lot, it would feel good to finish it off with a win,” Jones said.