Sandwich holds off Hall in regional opener, advances to face top seed Seneca

SANDWICH – Simeion Harris, Dom Rome and Quinn Rome all got into trouble on Monday night, which put host Sandwich in a risky situation against Hall in a Class 2A Princeton Regional quarterfinal game.

Sandwich’s foul trouble and a resilient effort from the Red Devils certainly made things really tough, but not tough enough as Sandwich held on for a 59-53 victory.

Sandwich (20-11) will play top seed Seneca at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

“Playing playoff basketball is a different atmosphere,” Sandwich junior Nick Michalek said. “This can be your last game coming in, and we knew we had to step it up and play our best game. This is a playoff atmosphere where everyone is 0-0. Record doesn’t matter. We came in with that mindset, that this could be our last one (game).”

Hall (11-17) definitely battled, pulling within 40-37 with 19 seconds remaining in the third quarter on a three-pointer from Wyatt West, who led all players with 21 points.

Michalek answered the other way, draining his only three-pointer of the night, right in front of his team’s standing student section to finish the quarter for a 43-37 lead.

Michalek scored his 10 points in the second half of a game his team led 26-23 at halftime.

His driving shot with 6:48 to play in the fourth quarter bounced a few times before falling through. Fouled on the play, Michalek could’t take advantage of the opportunity but Sandwich’s 45-37 lead became its biggest.

West’s three-pointer with 3:41 remaining got the Red Devils to within 47-44.

Greyson Bickell’s floater in the lane got them to 47-46.

They would not get any closer with Sandwich answering with back-to-back baskets. Harris was involved in both. The first via his pass inside to Dom Rome, who led the winners with 15 points. The second on his own steal and layup.

“I like playing defense. Not most people do. I do,” Harris said. “I’m a great defender for the team. I make a great X-factor for the team when I play defense. When I got that charge (midway through the second quarter) you saw everyone stood up and got happy because I’m a good and a great defensive player when I need to be for our team.”

Quinn Rome picked up his fourth foul with 7:35 left in the game. Harris joined him on the bench when he got his fourth with 6:18 remaining. Dom Rome took a seat when he got his with 3:47 on the scoreboard.

“I turned to (assistant coach) Mark (Guillinger) after Dom got this fourth, ‘Do I pull him right now for a minute?,’” Sandwich coach Matt Chalfin said. “And he had to play. We needed him out there to rebound and create attention so he stayed out there and played very smart. The same thing with Simeion (Harris). I took him out for maybe a minute because we needed him for his defensive intensity.”

And they needed him to handle the ball, especially in the final minute when the Red Devils were forced to foul for possession.

West’s three-pointer with 14.5 seconds remaining had just gotten them to within 55-53.

Harris made two free throws with 13 seconds left and then got fouled with 1.4 seconds remaining after pulling down his sixth rebound. He knocked down those free throws to finish 6-for-6.

“I have not been able to hit my free throws (recently),” he said. “I was going like 2-for-7 and 1-for-3 and 2-for-5, and coming into this regional game I said I’ve got to make these free throws if we’re going to win this game. I got to get a rebound to win this game. (I was) digging in my head over and over again on how I can make my free throws or get a rebound and I looked around and my team needed me to step up and I hit my free throws and that’s how we won the game.”

For Hall, Braden Curran had 10 points, knocking down a pair of threes. West drained three in leading the offense. West had nine rebounds to accompany his 21 points Another junior, Greyson Bickell, had eights points as did Chace Sterling, a freshman the Red Devils love having for three more years.

“We talked about however we find a way to win, as a long we win and survive and advance,” Chalfin said. “Hall capitalized on every one of our missteps and seemed to get every rebound when they needed it. Hall plays really hard. Their record wasn’t great but they’ve beaten some good teams so we knew this would be a dogfight.”