Hopewell Junior High Basketball
Recap of the Hopewell Junior High Basketball Games Against Moon
Tuesday was a learning experience for the Hopewell 7th grade basketball team.
The undefeated Vikings traveled to take on the Moon Tigers in their next to last game before the Christmas break.
To this point in the season, this team has played near flawless basketball and each of their three games have been lopsided but that wasn’t the case yesterday.
Hopewell was hit with the turnover bug as they made numerous turnovers during all four quarters. The frustrating part for the coaches and players had to be that they were unforced turnovers. For example, grabbing a defensive rebound and forcing a length of the court pass or forcing a pass to a teammate what wasn’t open or throwing a lazy pass to a teammate, which a Moon defender stole when they weren’t even pressuring them.
This is not a biased opinion but if these two teams played 10 times and both teams played their best, Hopewell would win 8 or 9 times.
Unfortunately, yesterday wasn’t one of those times as Hopewell suffered their first defeat of the 2024-25 season.
It also didn’t help Hopewell’s cause that Ryder Kostrick, one of their best players, injured his ankle/foot in the 1st quarter and missed the rest of the game.
But as mentioned earlier, this game was a good learning experience for Hopewell in that you need to ready every game because winning isn’t easy no matter how talented you are.
1st Quarter Recap:
*Kostrick hits Hopewell’s first field goal of the game as he knocked down a 3-pointer from the right corner, Hopewell 5-0.
*Hopewell successfully breaks the press as they get the ball to the middle and Christian Fischer hits Kostrick with a pass for a layup, Hopewell 5-3.
*That was the last points of the quarter for Hopewell and the first time they trailed all season.
End of 1st Quarter: Moon 10 Hopewell 5
2nd Quarter Recap:
*This quarter was filled with turnover after turnover.
*Hopewell only scored one basket in the 2nd quarter on a pass from David Johnson to Fisher, who made a nice post-up move in the paint, Moon 10-7
Halftime: Moon 18 Hopewell 7
3rd Quarter Recap:
*Hopewell closed the deficit in the 3rd quarter and got it back to single digits.
*Nico Amadio gets in the paint and hits Fischer with a nice bounce pass and Christian finishes, Moon 18-9.
*Hopewell with a steal and Kaleb Gonzalez dribbles the court and passes off to Amadio, who finishes, Moon 20-11.
*With 1:08 left before halftime, Connor Reed gets Hopewell closer with a deep 3 from the wing, Moon 20-14.
*Then with 28 seconds left, Gonzalez is fouled shooting and makes 1 of 2 at the line, Moon 20-15.
Halftime: Moon 20 Hopewell 15
4th Quarter Recap:
*First possession of the quarter, Gonzalez shows his range with a step back 2 in the lane, Moon 20-17.
*Hopewell then went scoreless for 3 minutes until Gonzalez came up with a strong drive in the lane, Moon 25-19.
*Fischer with a beautiful up under move to get Hopewell within 4 points, Moon 25-21.
*With :35 seconds left, Amadio gets in the paint and scores 2 more, Moon 28-23.
That would be it as Moon wins 32-23.
Next up for Hopewell is a home game tomorrow against a good South Fayette program, so this group will have a chance to rebound.
–As far as the 8th grade team, unfortunately, they struggled mightily for all 4 quarters against Moon. Hopewell had problems all game with Moon’s full-court pressure and once they did get the ball over halfcourt, not much was happening. Final score, Moon 40 Hopewell 9.
