Hanover's Vincent keeps his 3-point magic going to beat Pembroke on the road

PEMBROKE -- For the opening eight minutes Friday night, the area behind the 3-point line was a no-fly zone as the Pembroke High and Hanover High boys basketball teams combined to miss 14 of 15 attempts from distance.

With that kind of clanking start, you just knew the game would be decided by someone finding his long-range form in the clutch.

That someone turned out to be Hanover junior guard Tyler Vincent, who played the hero for the second time in three games. Vincent (team-high 14 points) knocked down a tie-breaking 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1:15 left to play, giving the Hawks a lead they would not relinquish in a 54-50 Patriot League win.

Last Thursday, Vincent drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Hingham, 46-43.

So, yeah, he's been feeling it lately. And a cold-shooting start -- he did have the only make by either team in the first quarter -- wasn't going to dissuade him from firing away.

"They felt good," he said of his earlier attempts. "They just didn't fall. That one fell for me. Coach has trusted me the whole season. He's given me the green light to shoot. I've been getting open looks because my teammates get me open."

Pembroke's Thomas Halloran made a nice bounce pass in the paint to Gerald Ellison (team-high 14 points) to knot the score at 47-all with 2:18 left. After an exchange of empty possessions, Vincent grabbed the spotlight. Joseph Picard drove the baseline on the right side and split a double-team with a pass to the top of the key. Vincent drained it with Pembroke's Michael Marcella running at him for a 50-47 lead.

"He's been coming up big for us all season," Hanover coach Nick Hannigan said. "He's matured physically. He's been with us (on varsity) since freshman year. He got beat up a little as a freshman, a little as a sophomore, but now he's starting to put it to people. He's been making huge shots. There's nobody that I trust more than him right now."

Vincent had one more big moment left in him as he hit two free throws with 9.5 seconds left to extend the lead to 54-50. Both of those caught iron but rattled in, clinching a fourth straight win for the Hawks (7-2 overall, 6-2 Patriot League). Pembroke falls to 6-4 (5-3).

"Just trying to do what I do when nobody's in the gym," said Vincent, who's had games of 24, 19, 17 and 16 points this winter. "Just focus in on sealing the game, putting the game away."

By the numbers

2: Big free throws for Hanover sophomore Ryan Mutschler (8 points) to give the Hawks a 52-47 lead with :18.9 left. Those loomed large when Pembroke's Halloran (12 points) answered with a corner 3 with :10.4 remaining. Mutschler had a career-high 21 points and 10 rebounds in a recent win over Scituate and added 17 points against Silver Lake on Wednesday. "Against Scituate, in his first career start, he hit six free throws in the last 2 minutes of the game," Hannigan said. "He's growing before our eyes."

5-1: Hanover's record in games decided by 4 or fewer points this season. The Hawks lost, 57-56, to Quincy in OT in their second game of the season but since then have beaten Rockland (48-46), Marshfield (69-67 in OT), Scituate (70-66), Hingham (46-43) and now Pembroke. Said Mutschler: "We've had a lot of nail-biters, a lot of close games. I think we're getting good at closing them out."

151: Career wins for Hannigan. He hit 150 last time out against Silver Lake. "I appreciate the shout-out from the Hanover community," he said of the milestone. "But it's about us, it's about getting better every day. I haven't scored a point. It's the kids who win these games."

19: Points-per-game average for Pembroke senior forward Matt Delcore entering the week. That led the Patriot League. "He's long and athletic and he can shoot off the dribble, which is what makes him special," coach Matt Vincenzi said. Delcore was limited to 7 points in this one, but Vincenzi said he liked the way Delcore moved the ball and got teammates involved. Senior guard Andrew Chahed had 9 points (all on 3-pointers), and Marcella chipped in with 8.

11: Points for Hanover's Owen Barth. He hit three 3-pointers, including one to beat the third-quarter buzzer.

Titans will try to regoup

Pembroke has lost back-to-back games after falling to Duxbury, 86-73, on Tuesday. Still, Vincenzi appreciated the effort, which included a gutsy off-the-bench performance from Halloran, who injured his shoulder against Duxbury. Halloran usually is a starter, but Vincenzi tried to limit his minutes in this one.

The Titans graduated All-Scholastic forward Brady Spencer, who averaged 19.8 points and 10.3 rebounds per game last season, and All-Scholastic guard Joey Dwyer (16 ppg) and are still finding their way with a new-look lineup.

"It's disappointing to lose," Vincenzi said, "but to be 6-4 at this point with kind of everything we lost from last year, I feel we're still in a pretty good spot."

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Vincent knocks down a late 3 as Hanover boys beat Pembroke on the road