H.S. BOYS BASKETBALL: Peterson heats up late to carry Hanover past Quincy – The Patriot Ledger

Eric McHugh|The Patriot Ledger

HANOVER Before the game, Hanover High boys basketball coach Nick Hannigan was giving thumbnail scouting reports on his starting lineup. When he got to Jake Peterson, he noted that while the 6-4 sophomore had come off the bench as a freshmanlast winter, "We're hoping that he can step in and fill a bigger scorer's role this year."

So far, so good.

Peterson led the Hawks in scoring in Tuesday night's 39-37, season-opening win over Patriot League rival Quincy. If his total was modest (13 points), the bulk of it came in crunch time when Hanover needed it most.

The hosts mustered only 10 fourth-quarter points, and Peterson had eight of them all in a row over the final 5:50, including a tiebreaking 3-pointer with under a minute left that stood up as the game-winning shot.

"After a slow start, I knew I had to contribute to the team," Peterson said. "Late down the stretch I had to shoot the ball."

"Huge," Hannigan said of Peterson's contribution. "He was a freshman last year, played some good minutes, but was strictly kind of a catch-and-shoot kid. He's been asked to do a lot more this year, and I think a little bit of jitters got to him (in the first half). Once he settled in and hit his first three (in the second quarter), he was much more in his comfort zone."

Peterson's fourth-quarter surge went this way:

A 3-pointer from the right wing totie it at 34-34 with 5:50 left.

Two free throws to knot it upagain at 36-36 with 2:08 remaining.

A three from the left wingin transition to put the Hawks ahead for good, 39-36, with :52 left.

"That one he hit down the stretch was immense," Hannigan said of the final trey. "I'm over here yelling, 'Attack the rim! Attack the rim!' and he just made me look silly. I couldn't have asked for more."

Quincy (0-2) got a game-high 16 points from senior guard Dyllan Lopes, a co-captain. No other President hit double figures in points, but coach Dave Parry noted that it was a big improvement on a 61-41 season-opening loss to Plymouth North.

"The kids keep working hard each and every day," Parry said. "It'd be nice to hit a couple of shots when we needed them, but I credit Hanover for that. They played some very good defense to force us into a few bad shots. But (overall) I saw a lot of improvement. Very happy with what I saw from our team tonight."

Quincy was at a size disadvantage but compensated by frustrating Hanover with a zone defense. The Hawks spent most of the first half glued to the perimeter; they had just two two-point baskets by halftime.

"We've been trying to work on it a lot," Parry said. "That's kind of becoming our identity right now."

Said Peterson: "Definitely early in the game we couldn't get anything (going) inside; we were just shooting threes. But later on we figured some stuff out. We had to get in the paint. We weren't doing that in the first half and we did it in the second half."

Hanover had five 2-point baskets in the third quarter after some halftime adjustments.

"Hats off to them,they play a great 1-2-2 zone," Hannigan said of Quincy. "In a normal year when we had more time to prepare we probably could have attacked it a little better. That's on me as the coach.But I thought our kids responded in the second half. We ran a little more of our motion stuff, got the kids moving, got the zone moving, and I just think it opened up a little more. Plus, our guards started attacking north-south rather than east-west."

Turnabout being fair play and all, Hanover switched toa zone defense late, and it seemed to stall Quincy's offense, although Parry said he might have miscalculated by trying to milk the clock.

"We typically are a man-to-man team," Hannigan said. "We put in our zone but we haven't really practiced it that much. We knew who their shooters are; we wanted to change the pace a little bit because they were getting to the rim pretty easily. We wanted to keep them off the free-throw line. We said we were going to do it for a possession or two, but it was working so we stayed with it."

Both teams missed free throws in the final minute, but Hanover hung on to get the win. The Hawks had made deep playoff runs for three straight seasons, including winning the 2016-17 Division 3 state championship, before graduation losses forced them to settlefor an 11-10 campaign in Div. 2 last winter.

With three returning senior starters point guard Ian Kirby, guard Patrick Mullane and 6-4 forward Andrew Rocci (already committed to Div. 3 Hartwick College) to pair with Peterson and 6-5 center Jack Bromberg, Hanover has high hopes for a bounce-back season.

Quincy, too, is looking to take a step forward after missing the MIAA playoffs last winter for the first time in 10 years. The Presidents won't get to start a new streak this season since there are no MIAA playoffs amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but Parry likes his group, which is headlined by Lopes and fellow senior co-captain Kaan Yavuz.

It also includes rugged 6-3 senior forward Jorden Edge, junior forward Coleman Ross and senior swingman Will Cook, plus junior Joe Manton, junior Jordan Davis and promising freshman Caleb Parsons-Gomes off the bench.

"The kids work hard," Parry said. "It's just that the familiarity that we're used to isn't there yet because of the lack of an offseason. The kids have been real troupers about it, and I'm ecstatic that they're showing up each day to practice (with the right attitude). Hopefully, that will translate into a few wins for us."

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H.S. BOYS BASKETBALL: Peterson heats up late to carry Hanover past Quincy - The Patriot Ledger