Hess, Warriors tame Tigers

ATTICA – Early in the fourth quarter, AJ Hess had a 3-pointer wiped away due to an offensive foul call on a teammate.Hess smacked his hands in a bit of frustration.But he didn't let it bother him.On Mohawk's next possession, Hess again drilled a 3 - for good this time - and it was all apart of a huge night for the senior.Hess went above his scoring and rebounding averages, tallying 33 points and 12 rebounds to lift the Warriors to a big 71-53 Northern 10 Athletic Conference win over Seneca East on Wednesday."It's great," Hess said. "I think I've struggled the last stretch of a couple games. To finally get back to what I've been averaging and over is a great feeling."Hess came in averaging 19.3 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. He had 15 points in the first quarter and 22 points by halftime for Mohawk (10-2 overall, 5-2 N10)."The last few games we've been playing some really good teams that have really been shutting him down," Mohawk coach Paul Dunn said. "For him to finally get back on the offensive side of the game, I'm sure he's relieved. He did a really good job. We've challenged him for three years to get his body inside. He's 6-foot-5 and has great touch. I thought that allowed him to get comfortable."Despite the big first half, it was a 3 by Brayden Chester at the buzzer that gave the Warriors a 36-33 lead at the break. Part of that close first half was in due part to Isaac Mason, who opened the second-half scoring for the Tigers (9-4, 4-3). Despite having the lead on multiple occasions in the first half, SE never led in the second half.Instead, Kahne Hayman answered the score by Mason for Mohawk before Bryce Hannam got going with a three-point play. Blake Foos scored for Seneca East, but the Warriors opened their biggest lead of the game to that point when Hess scored on a putback, Hannam registered a bucket and Hunter Haynes connected on a 3. That gave Mohawk a 50-39 advantage with 3:17 to go in the third quarter."It's tough because we're telling our guys you have to protect the middle because Hess finishes good around the rim," Seneca East coach Anthony Langhurst said. "He can also shoot the ball well. You're asking guys to help the middle but also be there on shooters."The Tigers didn't go quietly. Seneca East drew within 52-45 after two free throws by Luke Mason. Even after Boomer Cleveland splashed in a triple for Mohawk, Foos kept SE within 55-47 after three quarters.Hess' 3-pointer opened the scoring in the fourth quarter, yet it was still a single-digit game with 5:02 to go. But, the Warriors put the game away the rest of the way. Cleveland hit a triple before Hess scored and added two free throws.Hannam picked a steal and scored before tallies from Hess and Hayman put the finishing touches on a tough win for Mohawk. Dunn pointed to the play of Hannam as a key factor as he tallied seven points, eight rebounds, and 11 assists."He did so many things for us, whether it was getting offensive rebounds or getting deflections out there," Dunn said. "He's guarding the best player out there. He's our team captain for a reason. He does whatever we need. It makes me really proud to see him do that."The offenses flowed freely in the first eight minutes. Hess got hot early, knocking down six field goals in the first quarter, but Mohawk led just 20-18 after one quarter.There were six lead changes in the second quarter with Seneca East opening its biggest lead at 31-28 after Isaac Mason scored. But, Hess scored before 3-pointers by Cleveland and the one by Chester as the buzzer sounded gave the Warriors a three-point lead at halftime."The first part of the game was super entertaining," Langhurst said. "Mohawk was executing real well and we were executing well on the offensive end. We couldn't find a way to squeeze a board or be in the right spot at the right time."Seneca East was without the services of Lucas Bordner for a third straight game. Bordner hurt his knee in a Jan. 3 loss to Old Fort. The Tigers were able to pick a pair of wins with its second-leading scorer at 12.4 points per game out, but Seneca East will certainly want him on the floor as another viable scoring option."We'll find out (Thursday)," said Langhurst of getting Bordner back soon. "He's going back to the doctor, so we're hoping to get some sort of news of what we're looking at. The good thing about this team is maybe Bryler Beamer isn't as explosive as a scorer, but he gives us a lot of defense, which we saw tonight."Mohawk knocked down 11-of-21 3-pointers as a team. Hess (4), Cleveland (3), and Haynes (3) all hit multiple times while Chester added the one."That's the magic of AJ," Dunn said. "When he gets it inside, it makes those help defenders suck in and it opens up those shots for Boomer, Hunter, and Chester. Then, Kahne and other guys are driving to the basket and kicking it out. It makes our game a lot simpler."Isaac Mason paced Seneca East with 22 points and six rebounds while Luke Mason scored 10 points. Its the first time Dunn has had to prep for both brothers. They have a similar game with Isaac (senior) being older than Luke (freshman) and a few inches taller."They are unbelievably quick," Dunn said. "They're shifty. The part that makes it the hardest is they're really smart kids. Having a coach's son and now you have two of them. It makes it difficult. They know what they're doing out there and they know where to look for it."Things don't get any easier for the Tigers with a 48-hour turnaround to face a hungry Carey (8-1, 6-1) team that hasn't played since its first loss of the year last Saturday to the same Mohawk team they just lost to."It's one of those funky things where (tonight) was a make-up game and it didn't do us any favors," Langhurst said. "That's the good thing about basketball and our league is you really can't dwell on a tough loss. You can't dwell on a good win because we have quality opponents up and down the league."Haynes finished with 11 points for the Warriors, who had a 31-20 rebounding edge. After facing Colonel Crawford, Carey, and Seneca East consecutively, things cool off a bit for the Warriors, who face Bucyrus (2-9, 0-7) and Ridgemont (2-9 overall) this weekend for a stretch of three games in four days."We knew they were a very talented team," Dunn said. "Defensively, our mindset in the second half was we had to put more defensive stops together and offensively take care of the ball. I thought we were really careless. We had silly turnovers and a lot of empty possessions."