Football players boost CC past Harrison

Written by NATHAN BAIRD
For the first time this season, Central Catholic coach Dave Barrett started five members of the school's football team in Saturday's J&C Hoops Classic seventh-place game.

Some rustiness would have been excused for those Knights, who didn't achieve the required number of basketball practices until Friday. Yet CC guard Jake Churchill had no such concern regarding teammate Andrew Hubertz.

"He'd been making them all week in practice," Churchill said of the junior forward's outside shot. "There was no doubt in my mind he would come out and light it up for us."

Hubertz hit four 3-pointers in the second quarter en route to a game-high 21 points, and Central Catholic surged to a 73-46 victory over Harrison at Dennis Blind Gymnasium.

Hubertz's flurry came during a 20-3 Knights run in the second quarter, resulting in a double-digit lead that Central Catholic never relinquished.

A starting outside linebacker and receiver on CC's Class A championship football team, Hubertz said early morning shooting sessions with his brother, Will, helped him lock in his long-range touch.

"We wanted to get our offense going off of turnovers and rebounds," said Andrew Hubertz, who also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. "I got hot."

Harrison struggled early against Central Catholic's defensive pressure, committing six turnovers and missing two field goals over the first four minutes. Yet the Raiders still led 14-12 early in the second quarter.

But a 3-pointer by Timmy Mills followed by two from Hubertz shot Central Catholic into the lead. By the end of the half, the Knights led 36-20 and the Raiders were reeling.

Central Catholic opened the second half on an 11-0 run, which Harrison's Jacob Payne finally stopped with a basket with 1:24 left in the third quarter.

"We were in trouble long before (Hubertz) made a shot," Harrison coach Mark Rinehart said. "When a shot didn't go in for us in the first four minutes of the game, we lost all of our focus, all of our energy. It took until the middle of the third quarter before we could defend anybody."

Harrison turned the ball over 27 times, with several of those resulting in layups for Churchill (17 points) and Danny Anthrop (14 points). Cole Smith's 13 points and eight rebounds led the Raiders.