Hauser claims Edinburgh Tournament title

EDINBURGH — Going into this week’s Edinburgh Tournament, the Hauser boys basketball team was hoping to avoid a repeat of last year’s seventh-place finish.

The Jets made sure of that by pulling out a pair of wins on Wednesday, then picking up a 62-53 victory against Jac-Cen-Del on Thursday night to capture the tournament championship.

“We remember Day 1 last year losing two games and the feeling of playing in the aux gym,” Hauser coach Trent Moorhead said. “We were just coming into this week saying we were not going to play in that aux gym. It was a tough path for us to get here. Borden is really good team, Austin is a good team that fights and Jac-Cen-Del is a gritty team, as well, so three great wins.”

The third win came a little easier than the first two for the Jets (9-1). Unlike the first two, when it fell behind early and had to come back, Hauser trailed for only 9 seconds in the opening minute of the title game.

“We just believed in ourself,” sophomore Kam Blair said. “It’s just confidence that we always talk about in the locker room — just come out with confidence, and that’s what we did today.”

Kam Blair

The Jets came out sizzling, hitting their first six shots in jumping out 13-5 lead midway through the first quarter.

“A point of emphasis before the game was throwing the first punch and starting fast,” Moorhead said. “That starts with our defense and letting our defense create our offense. We did a great job with that.”

The Eagles (5-6) were within 28-23 at halftime and cut the lead to two on a 3-pointer to start the third quarter. Jac-Cen-Del was still within 51-45 with 6:15 left in the game when Hauser used an 8-0 run to take its biggest lead at 59-45.

“Jac-Cen-Del is a tough team, and they’re well coached,” Moorhead said. “They’re always going to be tough and gritty, and they found a way to hang with us the whole time. But I was proud of the way we were able to close that game out in the fourth quarter and make enough plays down the stretch and get enough stops. It just shows the continued maturity and growth of the group we’ve got, and so many guys contributed big shot after big shot there in the second half.”

Blair grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Jets to a 20-13 advantage on the boards. Hauser forced 18 Eagles turnovers.

“Honestly, it was just being together and playing as a team,” junior Taeshaun Tungate said. “My team is everything to me, and they’re the reason we got this ‘W’ here tonight — great teamwork.”

“The key was just staying poised because we had seven of our eight main kids in foul trouble with two early fouls,” junior Ledger Gelfius added. “Me and Tae sat out the whole second quarter. We just came out hot and did what we do best, and our team had great teamwork.”

Taeshaun Tungate

The Jets featured balanced scoring in all three tournament games. In the final, Tungate scored 13 of his game-high 15 points in the second half, while Gelfius scored 14, Blair had 13 and Alex Cord added eight.

“That’s Hauser basketball,” Moorhead said. “We’re all going to put the ball in the hoop, and we’re all going to defend, and when we do that we’re going to be hard to beat,” Moorhead said. “These guys keep proving it every night. We’re just continuing to show who we are, and I’m really proud of our guys and the coaches that have contributed so much. So we’re going to keep on rolling.”

Hauser 62, Jac-Cen-Del 53

Hauser;18;10;23;11;—;62

Jac-Cen-Del;11;12;17;13;—;53

Hauser (9-1): Alex Cord 2 4-6 8, Taeshaun Tungate 7 1-2 15, Ledger Gelfius 5 1-4 14, Stryker Gill 1 0-0 3, Gavin Keller 2 1-2 6, Kam Blair 4 3-6 13, Jake Barriger 1 1-2 3. Totals: 22 11-22 52.

Jac-Cen-Del (5-6): Landen Asche 1 2-4 4, Carson Hughes 2 1-2 7, Caleb White 3 0-0 8, Landon Kohlman 2 2-2 8, Brady Comer 4 0-0 10, Brady Borgman 2 0-0 5, Clark Dwenger 4 2-2 11, Luke Simon 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 7-10 53.

3-point goals: Hauser 7 (Gelfius 3, Blair 2, Gill, Keller); Jac-Cen-Del 10 (Hughes 2, White 2, Kohlman 2, Borgman, Dwenger).