Senior Night plays to Hanover’s favor

ROB WITHAM

For The Local

The Hanover boys basketball team presented a production in three acts Friday night. Their antagonists? Their arch rival, the Atlee Raiders, who looked to complete a regular season sweep of the Hawks on Jan. 27.

Act One was “The Raining of the Threes.” Senior Beau Sahnow and sophomore Tyler Latham each hit three from beyond the arc during a first half barrage that saw Hanover (10-8) build a 16-point lead before a late Raider run cut the halftime margin to 11 at 35-24.

Unbeknownst to the hundreds in attendance, they had already begun experiencing Act Two. A little-used junior one year ago, senior Max Williams made the most of his senior night, pounding the rock to the glass over and over again as the Atlee defense had to respect the perimeter.

The result was a 16-point performance, eight points in each half, helping Hanover keep Atlee (9-8) at bay, leading 43-31 after three periods.

“He’s worked so hard, done all the right things,” Hawks head coach Rob Rice said of Williams.

“I’m so proud of him and how far he’s come as a player. The game rewards what you put in, and he’s put a lot in to where he is now.”

The final act caught Rice, and everyone else, by surprise. Junior Jalen Copeland is, by admission, not Hanover’s first choice to shoot from 3-point land. But he found himself wide open with 3:55 left in the game and calmly made a triple from the corner in front of his bench, high-fiving Rice heading back on defense.

“He’s been injured for awhile, he came back last week against Pat- rick Henry,” Rice noted. “He made a huge difference being physical, rebounding and guarding the best player if he has to.”

Copeland wasn’t done, as if it were a dream sequence, draining another triple from the same corner for a 53-41 lead with 3:02 left. When Atlee sophomore Knox Axselle scored six straight points over the next minute, the margin was just six. But Sahnow scored his first basket of the second half driving to the rim for a 55-47 lead, bringing the curtain down on the Raiders.

The box score may only attribute four points to sophomore Will Hopkins, but Rice explained how his performance opened the door for everyone else.

“I’d be wrong not to mention how important Hopkins is to what we do, because he sacrificed tonight,” Rice opined. “He sacrifices opportunities for other guys, which is a big step, in my opinion, in his development as a player because he’s going to play at the next level. He made every right play tonight.”

Atlee was led by Axselle’s 18 points while Garrett Bralley added 11. The Raiders dropped from sixth to seventh in the Class 4, Region B standings with less than two weeks left in the regular season, while Hanover drew closer to eighth place Henrico, who defeated Armstrong on Friday, 77-60.

The top-12 teams make the region tournament, with the top-4 finishers earning first round byes.

To host a first round game, you need to finish between fifth and eighth place. Atlee currently is there, while Hanover is just a tenth of a point outside of eighth.

The same is true of the girls tournament, which also begins on Feb. 17. The Hanover girls were domi- nant on their senior night, defeating Atlee 78-29 to improve to 13-5 on the season. Five different Hawks hit 3-pointers in a first half that saw Hanover build a 39-12 halftime advantage.

Emma Slutzah hit four 3-pointers to lead Hanover with 12, while senior Meredith Atkinson had 11 and Hali Harris added 10. Fellow seniors Jolena Goldkuhle, Carolina Goldkuhle, Jordan Dudley and Tori Sperry scored seven, six, three and two points, respectively.

Atlee was led by Skye Kelvin’s 13 points, while Morgan Talbert had eight points. The Raiders, now 5-12, occupy the 12th and final playoff spot, with Huguenot and Courtland trying to overtake them. Hanover sits in fifth place, just behind fourth place Chancellor, and will seek to earn a first round bye in these final games of the regular season.