Moore-to-Blewett basket late in game propels Central boys past West Hancock

WARSAW, Ill. — Camp Point Central guard Nick Moore launched a seeing-eye pass from the top left corner of the key, aimed directly at Gavin Blewett, who was wide open about five feet to the right of the basket.

Blewett reeled in the laser-like toss, took one step toward the hoop and calmly banked in what wound up as the game-winning basket Friday night.

Blewett’s left-handed kiss off the glass capped a marvelous personal effort for the 6-foot senior, who sports an iconic 1980s mullet hairstyle. More important, Blewett’s bucket and ensuing free throw lifted Central to a hard-earned 53-50 non-conference victory over West Hancock in a matchup between two of the region’s top small-school programs.

Blewett’s three-point play gave Central a 52-50 lead with 18 seconds remaining. A steal by teammate Drew Paben nine seconds later — and accompanying free throw with 4.5 seconds showing — all but sealed the victory. A long 3-point try from just across midcourt by West Hancock was off the mark in the closing seconds.

“Just about every time we play, it seems to come down to (an ending like this),” Paben said.

Blewett ended with a game-best 22 points, scoring at least four points in every quarter. He also added a team-leading 8 rebounds.

“The only stats that matter are the points on the scoreboard,” Blewett said.

While Blewett tried to slough off any individual praise headed his direction, Moore had no problem singling out the Central center.

“I’m always looking for the shot, but I saw Gavin (alone) down low … and he came up big,” Moore said. “Gavin did a lot tonight.”

Central coach James Barnett said the Moore-to-Blewett game-winning play was added to the Panthers’ arsenal shortly before game time.

“We came up with that last play on the bus over here today,” Barnett said of the 45-mile journey from Camp Point to Warsaw.

Barnett explained the idea was to open up either Moore or Plewett for that kind of late shot. It did just that.

The game-winner also helped salvage the third game of the season series between the two clubs. West Hancock had won the first two meetings 58-46 (Dec. 30) and 45-42 (Jan. 4).

Central improved to 16-4, while West Hancock fell to 15-5. The Titans’ loss followed a 59-56 setback two nights earlier to Illini West.

West Hancock coach Jeff Dahl felt his team had Central “on the ropes” at several different points but could not apply a knockout punch.

“Our effort was there, but we could not (capitalize) on the blood in the water,” Dahl said. “We didn’t (finish them off).”

West Hancock controlled the game’s flow most of the night, building a 33-26 halftime lead and taking a 41-37 advantage into the fourth quarter. That provided some solace for Dahl, much more so than the defeat to Illini West.

“On Wednesday, we didn’t deserve to win that game,” he said. “We were terrible. We had forgotten how to play basketball that night.”

Gavin Grothaus (18) and Nolan Gooding (15) combined for 33 West Hancock points. Lewis Siegfried added 10 points and a game-leading 9 rebounds.

Elijah Gengenbacher (16) was Central’s other double-figure scorer. Genenbacher meshed four 3-point field goals that helped keep the Panthers within striking distance before their fourth-quarter rally.

“It wasn’t like we were playing that badly earlier in the game,” Barnett said. “We just had to do a better job on defense. We had poor communication and got bullied on defense.”

That all began to change after intermission.

“We just started to make more plays in the second half,” Blewett said.

Especially one near the end.