Hamilton Heights Middle School Athletics

On Saturday morning, the 8th grade boys basketball team played in the Mid Indiana Conference tournament. The team advanced to the second round of the tournament by beating the Tipton Blue Devils on Thursday night. In the semi-finals, the Huskies would be facing off against the Logansport Berries. The Dawgs got off to a good start with some strong defense and led 14 - 4 at the end of the first period. The second period was more of the same as the Huskies outscored the Berries 16 - 4 in the period to take a commanding 30 - 8 lead into intermission. Logansport showed some fight in the second half, but ultimately the Huskies were too much. The final score was 43 - 29. In this game, all 13 players in uniform made contributions on the defensive end and eight different players made a shot on offense to contribute to the team win. The Huskies were headed to the championship game to face off against the Kokomo Wildkats. Once again, the Dawgs got off to a fast start by hitting three 3 pointers in the opening period and took a 14 - 6 lead. The Kats fought back in the second period and outscored the Dawgs 16 - 10 in the second quarter. So, at halftime, the Huskies held onto a 24 - 22 lead. The two teams exchanged shots in the third period, but the Kats outscored Heights 12 - 8 in the period giving Kokomo a 2 point edge after three quarters. The Huskies showed tremendous fight in the fourth quarter, but came up a little bit short in the championship game and lost by the score of 48 - 40. In the title game, the Huskies were led offensively by Nolan Kakasuleff, who had a stellar tournament. Cooper Ballenger hit a couple of big three pointers. Grayson Pickering played some hard nose defense and made several hustle plays throughout the tournament to help the Huskies get to the championship game. No rest for the weary....as the 8th grade boys basketball team will be back home on Monday night @ 5:30 to take on Noblesville East. On Tuesday night, they will travel to Carmel Clay to play again @ 5:30.