When the 10 players from Hillcrest and Thornton Fractional North stood around the center jump circle at the start of Friday night’s game, Noe Pimentel and Brock Small looked liked they might not belong.
After the opening tip, they showed why they were there. The T.F. North guards led the Meteors to a surprising 70-65 SICA Central victory at Hillcrest. Pimentel, a 5-foot-8-inch senior, and Small, a slim 6-footer, were able to withstand the defensive pressure of a quick Hillcrest team and handed the Hawks their third loss of the year and first in five conference games.
“Our guard play was the key,” said T.F. North coach Mike McCreight, whose team now leads the conference with a 5-0 record and is 13-5 overall. “If you’re going to beat Hillcrest, you’ve got to have good guards.”
Pimentel scored 13 points and Small 10. That’s only part of the story. Pimentel had five steals and four assists while Small had nine assists and four steals.
Playing the point guard against a big Hawk press, Pimentel had just five turnovers. He never came out, not even when he had blood streaming down his face after opening a cut on the top of his head. He spent timeouts with an icebag on his head but he was the one giving headaches.
“That’s his typical game,” said McCreight, who doesn’t allow his players to talk to the press. “He plays like that every night. He plays 32 minutes. It’s no secret that we don’t have a backup and we don’t want one.”
Hillcrest kept digging holes but kept coming back until midway in the third quarter. The Hawks, led by Marlon Hughes’ 26 points, fell behind by nine points at the end of third quarter, but cut it to 50-45 with 6:25 left in the game. That was as close as Hillcrest could get as T.F. North, led by Pat McCreight’s 25 points, responded to every challenge.
“We were not prepared,” said Hillcrest coach Tom Cappel, who wasn’t going to start Hughes when the senior arrived late, but penciled him in by mistake. “We had some silliness at school, then someone didn’t get here on time. None of us was ready, including myself.”
The game wasn’t without its quirks, which is not suprising considering the history of the rivalry. There was the mixup of the starting lineups and then the floor had to be mopped just prior to tipoff.
Once the game got underway, it was close in the first half with Hillcrest coming from behind for a 32-31 halftime lead.
Rodney Dean came alive in the second quarter with 10 of his 12 points for Hillcrest. T.F. North, behind McCreight, pulled away 30-22 with 2:30 left in the second quarter before Dean got hot. Dean scored a pair of three-pointers and a layup after a T.F. North turnover to give the Hawks only their second lead of the game.
“Give credit to T.F. North,” Cappel said. “They were well prepared. Their players do what they can do. They play within their roles.”
