HINSDALE CENTRAL HOLIDAY CLASSIC

HC SQUARED:  Building a New Tradition of Basketball at Its Best
 

2019 GAME 23: HOMEWOOD-FLOSSMOOR 48, STEVENSON 38 (SEMI)

Box Score

HINSDALE, Ill. – For the fourth time in five years, Homewood-Flossmoor has advanced to the championship game of the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic. H-F defeated Stevenson 48-38 to earn the right to play for the 2019 Championship.

Homewood-Flossmoor (10-1) fell behind 12-5 after one quarter as Stevenson (11-2) came out hot. The Vikings quickly turned the table in the second quarter, outscoring Stevenson 15-2, including finishing the quarter on an 8-0 run to build a 20-14 lead at the half.

The Vikings pushed their lead up to 11 points late in the third quarter following a Josiah Palmer three-pointer. Stevenson scored the next six points to cut the deficit down to five with seven minutes remaining in the contest, but H-F rattled off the next seven points to open up a 43-31 lead with 4:35 remaining, before closing out the game with a 10-point victory.

Homewood-Flossmoor shot 52.8 percent (19-of-36) from the floor, including 41.7 percent (5-of-12) from downtown. The Vikings also outscored the Patriots 28-16 in the paint.

Palmer led a balanced scoring attack for the Vikings, finishing with a game-high 14 points while shooting 4-of-7 from the floor. RJ Ogom added 12 points and five rebounds while Brandon Brewer finished with 10 points and four assists. Joel Watts totaled eight points, four rebounds and three assists in the win.

Stevenson shot 38.5 percent (15-of-39) from the floor, but struggled from long distance, hitting just 6-of-25 shots (24.0 percent) from three-point distance. Matthew Ambrose paced the Patriots in the loss with 11 points. Robert Holmes and Matthew Kaznikov scored eight points apiece.

Homewood-Flossmoor will await the winner of the Marian Catholic/DePaul Prep game in tomorrow’s championship game at 8:30 p.m. Stevenson (11-2) will face the loser of the Marian Catholic/DePaul Prep game in tomorrow’s third-place game at 7:00 p.m.