BOYS BASKETBALL: HITTING THE (HI)NOTE

By BRANDON HURLEY

Sports Editor 

sports@beeherald.com

JEFFERSON – 

To the casual observer, Greene County guard Trey Hinote’s performance in warmups Tuesday, Dec. 6 should’ve indicated he was in for a long night. 

The sophomore clanked nearly all his shots in the pre-game drills, but the sweet-shooting two guard knew he was in for a good night, though he didn’t know how great it would turn out to be. 

Hinote poured in 16 first half points, including four three-pointers en route to a career-high 25 points and seven threes, powering the Rams to a 71-47 victory over Roland-Story in Jefferson. 

The poor shooting prior to the game instilled confidence in the sharp-shooter, a notion that may rattle most players. 

“I couldn’t make anything in warm ups, but that happens a lot,” Hinote said. “If I’m not shooting it well in warm ups, I know I’m going to have a good game, I focus more.” 

The 24-point victory kept GC’s perfect record intact (4-0) as the Rams cracked the 70-point plateau for the third time this season, aided by a scorching hot night from three – 12 in all, as they romped over their Heart of Iowa Conference foe. 

A 30-point second quarter, in which Greene County ripped off a 27-4 run thanks to a barrage of threes from Hinote and Tucker, seven to be exact, the Rams found themselves with a commanding 44-18 edge at the halftime break. 

Tucker opened the first-half three-point onslaught with a deep trey ball to tie the game at three early in the first quarter. Senior Tommy Jacobsen tied the game once more at nine with a three of his own and the Rams closed the first quarter on a 8-0 run to take a 14-9 lead. 

Greene County drained nine first half threes, eight combined from Hinote and Tucker and outscored the Norsemen, 30-9 in the second quarter. Crisp passes led to several, wide-open threes, which Greene County head coach Chris Nelson was pleased to see. 

“We moved the ball really well with our spacing and we caught the ball ready to shoot,” the coach said. “That’s a huge difference when you are shooting, that was a huge key.” 

Hinote scored just nine in the second half, on three made threes, of course, but attributed his career-best mark to the ability of his unselfish teammates, similar to his coach’s praise. 

“The ball movement was incredible. There were so many open gaps,” Hinote said. “Trey (Tucker) just punched right into the middle (of the lane with the ball) and I just floated to the corner and they were there.” 

Hinote put a lot of work in the offseason to improve his game, especially on his shooting and his dribbling. The sophomore has drained 15 three-pointers through four games and bumped his scoring average to 15.25 PPG. He averaged eight points a season ago as a freshman. 

“I managed to make it to the gym everyday, for at least an hour and a half to two hours (in the offseason). I worked on my ball handling and I had tournaments four days a week, every week,” Hinote said of his offseason workouts. “It feels good (to have that career high.)”

 Tucker, Greene County’s leading scorer (24 PPG) outpaced Hinote in the first half 19 to 16, but was held scoreless over the final 16 minutes. The Rams struggled a bit in the third quarter, as the Norsemen chipped away at the large deficit. After extending their lead to 28 in the opening moments of the half, Greene County went cold on offense while Roland-Story found their touch from deep. The Rams also fell into foul trouble late in the third, as Tucker and Hinote each picked up their third fouls as the Norse pushed the score to 48-30. Tucker later picked up his fourth foul with a minute remaining and headed to the bench. The Rams scored just 11 points in the third quarter yet clung to a 55-34 lead heading into the final frame. 

A sense of complacency creeped in on the Greene County players during that third quarter, Nelson said, which upset him at a few different times on the sideline. 

“We just didn’t come out the way we were supposed to and that tends to happen when you have a big lead,” Nelson said.  “We got a little lethargic, so yeah, I was a little frustrated there. We needed to come out assertive like we did to start the game. But the kids got it going and relaxed a little bit and got it to the fourth quarter and we really started to take over again.” 

Greene County opened the fourth quarter with a bang thanks to back-to-back threes by Hinote to pad their comfortable lead. “He’s a good shooter and he can shoot the heck out of the ball, especially when he’s set and ready to shoot,” Nelson said. “He’s got a great shot and is shooting with confidence and we hope he keeps doing it the rest of the year.”

Wade Adcock gave the Rams’ three double-digit scorers, contributing 10 points, including eight in the fourth quarter as Greene County locked up the victory. The junior also added a massive block in the first quarter. Lance Hughes added eight points of his own, including back-to-back buckets in the third quarter, ending the long scoring drought. 

Though the box score said Greene County only outscored Roland-Story 16-13 in the fourth, the return of the hot shooting allowed the Rams’ to ease up off the gas pedal after extending their lead once more early in the period. Strong defense, Nelson said, allowed the Rams to hold the Norse at bay for most of the night. To keep the undefeated record in tact, the coach said his players must continue to put all facets of the game together.

“We only gave up 47 (Tuesday) and we have to push offensively and space the floor well,” Nelson said. “(We need to) use each other off screens and on defense, we have to keep getting after it.” 

RAMS STAVE OFF GRITTY N. POLK SQUAD 

Greene County kept it’s perfect record intact Friday, Dec. 2 with a narrow 47-43 road win over North Polk in HOIC action. 

Senior Trey Tucker (19 points) and sophomore Trey Hinote (18 points) combined for 37 of Greene County’s 47 points as the Rams moved to 3-0 on the year and 2-0 in the Heart of Iowa Conference. 

Greene County couldn’t pull away from the pesky Comets (0-3), as Greene County held a three-point lead after the first quarter (14-11) and entered the halftime break up just 29-25. 

Both squads struggled to score out of the locker room, as Greene County poured in eight points in the third quarter to just six from North Polk. While the Comets outscored the Rams in the fourth quarter (13-10), it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback in a low-scoring affair. 

Greene County senior Tommy Jacobsen pulled down 10 rebounds while junior Wade Adcock tallied nine rebounds of his own to go with two blocks. 

North Polk sophomore Colten Parkins poured in 19 points to pace the Comets, pulling down 10 rebounds for a double-double. 

Tucker was a terror on the defensive side as well as he swiped a team-high six steals. Jacobsen wasn’t far behind with four steals of his own as the Rams stockpiled 15 takeaways in the showdown in Alleman. 

Hinote’s 18 points came thanks to three made three-pointers. As a team, the Rams shot 18-of-43 on a rough shooting night. 

The 47 points were a low-mark for the Rams this season, as they entered the contest averaging a sizzling 85 points per game. 

The Rams are on the road Thursday to take on non-conference foe Southeast Valley in Gowrie. The Jaguars (3-0) beat St. Edmond Tuesday, Dec. 6 thanks to a career-high 33 points and seven three-pointers from Kaleb Jondle. 

“They are a physical team and will be pretty athletic,” Nelson said. “They will be a big team down low so it will be a good test for us. We have to play our game and head up to Gowrie and see what happens.”  

Greene County returns home Friday as they host HOIC member, Saydel. The Eagles are 0-3 on the year, most recently falling 56-21 to undefeated South Hamilton. 

The Rams will stay home next Tuesday, Dec. 13 to face South Hamilton. The Hawks have won all three of their contests and are led by  senior Collin Hill, who is averaging 19.7 points per game, to go with 7.6 rebounds per game.