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The perfect farewell gift: Hawk boys win DAC crown
For four seasons, the vision haunted Tim Hoerner and Shawn Porter.
On the Highland gym wall, overhanging the door through which the Hawks rush out of their locker room onto the court, sits a boys basketball banner. The bottom half of that flag displays the years that Highland has won the Delaney Athletic Conference tournament championship.
And as long as that banner has flown, that spot has remained blank.
Until Monday.
Playing in their final Highland games, Hoerner and Porter combined for 36 points, helping the Hawks (16-12 overall) dispatch Wakefield (18-10) in the DAC tournament final, 65-52. That it came at home made it sweeter.
“Too many times,” said Hoerner of how often he's glanced up at that glaring banner vacancy. “We really wanted this.”
Highland's all-time leading scorer ended his senior campaign with a vintage Hoerner performance. He scored 11 in the first quarter, thanks to a pair of long three-pointers. Then, when Wakefield began closing on him, Hoerner wore a path to the free throw line. He finished 14-of-16 at the charity stripe as part of a game-high 22 points.
“I didn't want to just settle for standing in the corner, because I knew they were going to try and take me out of the game,” Hoerner said. “I knew we had to attack them.”
Porter stormed the Owls' front line as well, notching 14 points and eight rebounds.
More than that, after Wakefield cut a 33-23 halftime deficit to three, he sparked the Hawks with a three-point play and loads of energy.
“We've been waiting for this, this was a state championship for us,” Porter said.
“We thought we'd limit them to what we could and make some of the other players step up,” Wakefield coach Scott Barron said. “But we weren't effective slowing them down.”
Wakefield, meanwhile, will have to wait another year for its first DAC tournament title. The Owls split the regular-season title with Highland. This was also the first season Wakefield ever made the conference's Final Four.
Still, the young squad — despite the constant cheering from the raucous Wakefield side of the crowd — stumbled early on Monday's big stage and never recovered.
“I was hoping we had prepared ourselves a little better for this game,” Barron said. “We knew if we could get close or tie it up, it would give us a lot of confidence and that would help us.”
Barron's squad would get no closer than 36-33, right before Porter's clutch basket-and-one.
The Owls lingered in their locker room for a long while following the loss, prepping for Tuesday's Division III state tournament game while Highland — which competes in Division II and did not make the state playoffs — cut down its net in the typical basketball celebration.
“There's a couple guys that are disappointed with how they played,” said Wakefield senior Ross Ozburn, who finished with 12 points. “At the end of the game, it's just how the team plays as a whole, so we're kind of disappointed in ourselves.”
Sophomore Eric Wilson scored 16 and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead Wakefield in both categories. His stellar effort was overshadowed by the Hawks' performance, though.
“This is awesome,” Highland coach Chris Norkun said. “I'm just really happy our seniors got to get it, especially Tim and Shawn.
“Both those guys, they wanted it, they were all team, they really got it done for us tonight.”
Mo Safren chipped in 11 for the Hawks, while Kevin Allen returned from a broken foot to grab four rebounds and play key minutes.
Ian Martin added six for Wakefield.
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