Hampshire stumbles vs. Winnebago

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Over the years, Winnebago has solidified itself as one of the top small-school basketball programs in the state.

With all the tools in place for another run deep into the Class 2A state tournament, Friday night's North Boone Regional championship game against Hampshire was step one of the Indians' yearly quest.

Having already beaten Hampshire twice during the regular season and 11 consecutive times overall, the Indians jumped all over the fourth-seeded Whips early en route to a 59-47 win.

Winnebago's size, which features all five starters at least 6-foot-1 -- including a 6-8 center -- hurt Hampshire throughout the game as the Whips were outrebounded 33-18.

"The one thing we wanted to concentrate on was the boards," Hampshire coach Bob Barnett said. "They had more offensive boards than we had boards in the first half. I know sometimes it's difficult out of the zone but we just can't match up with them."

In addition to their rebounding advantage, the Indians (24-2) shot 50 percent from the field in the first half to spell Hampshire's doom.

And if that wasn't enough, the Indians didn't have to rely on their big men to provide points.

Instead of taking advantage of the size differential, the Indians let their guards do all the work in the first quarter. Charles Cross hit two of the Indians' four first-quarter three-pointers to put Hampshire (13-13) in an early hole at 18-8.

"They didn't miss did they?" Barnett said rhetorically. "I just looked and said, 'God, they get hot against us.' Cross is only a sophomore but he's gonna be a heck of a player in years to come."

Meanwhile, only T.J. Burzak and Will Bush could find the basket for the Whip-Purs in the first half. Burzak scored 11 of his team-high 15 points before halftime as Hampshire found itself down 30-14 after two quarters.

The third quarter belonged to the Indians' Heath Hoffman. The senior scored Winnebago's first eight points of the quarter and finished with a game-high 23 points.

"The one thing we know about him is that he likes to go left to get off the jump shot," Barnett said. "We knew his tendencies, but we didn't slide people over to take that charge. We're young. Sometimes when young kids struggle offensively they lose focus."

Hampshire shot just 11 of 33 from the field heading into the fourth quarter.

By the time Hampshire started to figure the Indians out, it was too late.

After going a perfect 6-of-6 from the field in Wednesday night's win over Rockford Christian, junior James Goebbert scored his first and only points of the game when Bush found him on a fast break in the fourth.

"James had a rough night," Barnett said. "I didn't think he'd play like this. Maybe the moment got to him, I don't know. That's the one difference, our guys aren't used to playing in this atmosphere and Winnebago is. They have that swagger and that's what we're trying to get to."

Winnebago moves on to the Byron Sectional where it'll face the host Tigers.