Boys basketball: Josh Martin drives LaMoille past Hiawatha

LAMOILLE - LaMoille coach Chance Blumhorst has been telling Josh Martin it was time to step up his game.

Martin took that step up Wednesday.

The LaMoille junior guard scored a season-high 21 points with seven rebounds and two assists to lead the Lions to a 62-54 win over Kirkland Hiawatha in Little Ten Conference play at Dean Madsen Gymnasium, aka the Lions Den.

“I’ve been telling him for weeks, when he wants to go to the basket, there’s no one that can guard him. And he’s taking that to heart and really did it tonight,” Blumhorst said. “He put his head down and went to the rim. Hit a big 3, maybe two. The kid’s come a long way. Starting to listen and go down hill and the results are showing.

“He knows he’s capable of it and kind of just put it all together tonight.”

Martin said the nudge and confidence boost from Blumhorst helped get him going.

“He’s been on me about driving. I knew I had it in me. It was just someone having confidence in me and telling me to go,” he said.

Martin scored to get the Lions (7-14, 2-5) started on an 8-0 run to open the fourth quarter. After a Connor Deering bucket, Tyler Billhorn sank two free throws and scored on a drive for a 51-43 lead with the Hawks seeking a reprieve with a timeout at 6:11.

Martin kept it up, following one Brayden Klein basket with a scoring drive for a 55-45 lead and answering another with a layup off a fullcourt inbounds play to open up a 59-48 lead with under four minutes to play.

It was just the kind of win the Lions needed.

“On our court, it’s been awhile,” said Blumhorst, who is assisted on the bench by his dad, Brian, the former Annawan/Polo/Mendota coach. “Wednesday night on a reschedule had an opportunity to be a little bit of a dud and the boys came out and just executed tonight. It was so fun to watch.”

“It’s always awesome to win at home,” Martin said

Billhorn had 16 points, 11 rebounds and five assists while Klein (5 rebounds, 4 assists) and Deering added nine points each.

Ryan Barber led the Hawks with 17 points, Cameron Emerich had 15 and Matthew Block added 10.

Hiawatha (6-17) got off to a fast start, taking an early 11-2 lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by Thomas Giebel and Emerich. It’s been a common theme for the Lions of late.

“It’s been a little of our Achilles Heel. Saturday we started the game down 18-2 (against Orangeville) and cut it to six at the end,” Blumhorst said. “Slow starts have hurt us. We’ve been a second-half team, but you got to put all four quarters together. We weathered the storm and I think after the slow start, I thought we played really well offensively.”

LaMoille battled back within 16-13 at the end of the first quarter on a trey by Billhorn from the left corner and a drive by Martin to beat the buzzer,

Hiawatha held a 30-28 halftime lead, but the Lions went right to work to open up a 7-point lead early in the third quarter.

Martin opened with a 3-pointer to shoot the Lions into the lead. Billhorn scored on a reverse layup for a 37-32 lead and Martin hooped to make it 42-35.

Barber shot the Hawks, who had an 8-1 run, back into the lead at 43-42 with a 3-pointer before Klein tied it at 43 at quarter’s end with a free throw.

The Hawks connected on 11 3-pointers on 36 attempts. The Lions converted 18 of 28 free throw attempts with Hiawatha getting just six attempts (3 made) and none until the 5:50 mark of the fourth quarter.

* LaMoille won the F/S game 28-23 with Blake Durdin scoring 12 points for the Lions.