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HINCKLEY – Ben Kleba got the steal and fed it ahead to Hayden Hodgson, who in turn laid it in for his second bucket of the game.
That put him over the 1,000-point mark for his Genoa-Kingston career. But it was a 28-point effort by Martin Ledbetter and a 16-point performance from Luke Badal that powered Hinckley-Big Rock to a 74-65 win on Tuesday.
[ Photos: Hinckley-Big Rock boys basketball hosts Genoa-Kingston ]
H-BR coach Seth Sanderson said he’s been hoping a third scorer would step up behind Ledbetter and Max Hintzsche, and Badal has answered the call over the past few games.
“It’s been really great to come behind Max and Martin,” Badal said. “They set the tone for our team so being in the scoring range as them has been great. They’ll get their buckets, but especially after they score they’ll look for us to get them going. It’s been great.”
The Royals (10-4) never trailed in the contest, using a 21-4 run between the first and second quarters to open up a 33-14 lead.
The Cogs (6-7) missed 13 of their first 15 3-point attempts, but the shots started falling after Marcus Johnson drained a 3-pointer with 3:12 left in the second, a 5-0 mini-run that was the first time they scored more than three in a row.
“It’s the nature of the game now whether people like it or not,” G-K coach Griffin McNeal said of his team’s voluminous 3-point shooting, going 13-of-39 for the game. “You’re going to go through streaks where they’re not going in and its tough. We have a lot of good players but we don’t have a lot of guys that get to the basket super-well. Our strength is shooting and you take those cold stretches sometimes.”
They trailed by 13 at the break and the momentum carried into the third quarter, in which they made five of their 10 3-point attempts, including two for Johnson and three for Nate Kleba.
Nate Kleba finished with a team-high 24 points and Johnson finished with 20 points and a team-best five rebounds.
The Cogs cut the lead to nine repeatedly in the third and fourth quarters but never got closer. The Royals' lead never grew above 16 in the second half.
“When you get a chance to put a good team away and expand it from that 17-18 up to that 23, 24, 25, you have to take advantage. Johnson shot the ball so well. [Nate] Kleba shot the ball so well. With a team that shoots the ball that much you can’t just leave the door open.”
Hodgson had 10 points and five rebounds in reaching the career milestone.
“It means a lot,” the 6-5 senior guard said. “Shout out to my teammates who made it happen. It just shows the hard work I’ve put in over four years.”
Hintzshe had 12 points and six rebounds while Alex Casanas had 10 off the bench for the Royals. Ledbetter had 12 rebounds, a block and a steal.
Sanderson said Badal’s performance was key and will be an important factor in exactly how successful the Royals season is.
“Martin gives us 20, 21 a night and Max gives us 16, 17 a night,” Sanderson said. “We kinda need that third consistent scorer and Luke probably the last probably six games now has done a good job of being aggressive with the ball and attacking. If Martin had a double or triple on one side and Max is being face-guarded, there’s a lot of space that someone has to take advantage of. And Luke did a really nice job with that for us tonight.”