A shot in the closing seconds helps Hoover boys basketball knock off undefeated Massillon

MASSILLON — The play was well designed. The execution was perfect. So was the shot by freshman Hunter Hershberger.

The end result was a made 3-pointer with 7.2 seconds left and an incredible 56-53 win for the Hoover High School boys basketball team over previously unbeaten Massillon on Tuesday evening.

"We gave Crew (Cain) two options on the outlet on the inbound play," Hoover head coach Mike Bluey said. "Hunter was maybe a little deeper than we would have liked but he was open and shot it with confidence. It looked good the second it left his hand."

The deep 3 for the win put an exclamation point on a career night by Hershberger. The 6-foot-1 ninth-grader made six 3-pointers total for Hoover and scored 30 points off the bench to lead the way for the Vikings (6-3).

"I just tried to bring some energy to the floor when I was in the game," Hershberger said. "I have to give my teammates all the credit. They were hitting me with great passes and getting me open all night."

Hershberger showed incredible poise for a young player on the road participating in a big game.

"For a freshman to come out in this environment and perform like that is pretty special," Bluey said. "We believe in him. He obviously shoots the ball incredibly well. His defense is improving game by game. His improvement on that end is what is allowing us to keep him in games more often."

Hoover also hopes the win over Massillon is a big start to the year 2024. The Vikings are looking to improve on their 2-3 record in the Federal League.

"This was a big road win against a really good team," Bluey said. "We will enjoy this one tonight and get back to work tomorrow. We hope the momentum from a win like this carries over to Federal League play. We were not pleased with our first-half record in the league and we'd really like to do better in that area in the second half of the season."

Chris Knight led Massillon (6-1) with 20 points. Jadyce Thigpen also scored 15 points for the Tigers.

It was a tough night overall for Massillon. The Tigers trailed by as many as 10 points and did not take their first lead until 7:31 left to play in the fourth quarter.

"We just seemed to be out of sync tonight," Massillon head coach Josh Hose said. "We forced some shots up and had some breakdowns on defense. We had a bunch of little mental errors and when you add them all up, they cost us. ...We knew coming in that they shoot the ball really well and they were going to make you pay for any errors."

Massillon begins a tough stretch that has the Tigers playing Boardman, Linsly (West Virginia), John Marshall, Central Catholic and Alliance over the next two weeks.

"This is a wake-up call for us," Hose said. "I think this stretch is going to be a nice gut check. We've been getting a lot of praise and a lot of accolades, but we've been stressing to the kids that we have a lot of improving to do. It's one thing for us to say certain mistakes are going to catch up to us, it's another when they actually do. ... We haven't been playing perfect basketball by any means but that's not a bad sign. It means we have a lot of room to grow and improve before the end of the year."

Reach Cliff at cliff.hickman@cantonrep.com

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This article originally appeared on The Repository: OHSAA boys basketball: North Canton Hoover hands Massillon first loss