The Hillside Hornets erased a huge early deficit to claim a 74-67 win over the Cardinal Gibbons Crusaders at home to Durham on Tuesday night.
Gibbons came out early with a spectacular level of energy on the road, quickly taking a 10-5 lead and building on him throughout the first quarter.
Senior Alex Fanney was instrumental in building his team’s lead by knocking down three three-pointers in the opening eight minutes.
The Crusaders kept pushing after winning the first quarter 19-7. Gibbons started the second quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 20-point lead at 27-7.
From there, Hillside began to return to the game.
The pressure defense began to throw Gibbons out of sync offensively, and buckets began to fall at the other end for the Hornets.
Hillside didn’t make a big run, but managed to cut their deficit to 14 at halftime.
The Hornets continued to slip away in the third quarter as standout guard Devin Sims scored three field goals after just one in the first half to help the Hornets back into the 10.
Hillside really got going in the fourth quarter, quickly bringing the deficit to single digits and keeping it there long enough for a three from Brendan Watley to put major pressure on Gibbons late and a three from Suliamon Shackleford to beat the buzzer and send the game to over time.
The Hornets were in complete control in overtime as Sims scored four points and Jayde Braswell made five key free throws to keep his team ahead.
The game was Hillside’s season opener, so the Hornets start things off with a 1-0 record. They will look to improve their record to 2-0 this season in a tough road competition at Millbrook on December 6.
Gibbons falls to 0-2 this season with the loss and will look to earn its first win of the season in a neutral site game against Charlotte Catholic on Friday.
