Hershey wore down Lexington in the second half with their uptempo style of play as they won 63-38 on Monday in the first round of the Greg Miller Memorial Holiday Tournament in Hershey.

Next, Hershey (3-4) will play Twin Loup (7-1) for the championship on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.

“I thought in the second half, we came out inspired and passed the ball,” Hershey Head Coach Dustin Jorgenson said on the win over Lexington. “When we play unselfish basketball, we’re hard to beat. I thought our kids stepped up and did a great job finding open looks and getting easy buckets. The game comes easy when you make those extra passes.”

In the first quarter, Hershey took a 10-7 lead on a Sam Fowler three-pointer. The Panthers scored the next three points from the free throw line with one coming from J.T. Lantis and two from Ryan Murphy.

Lexington (1-5) responded as Adan Colon scored the next basket before Liam Denker made a pair of free throws. Then Bryant Truax pulled up and hit a three to give the Minutemen the lead with 46 seconds left in the first.

The score remained the same heading into the second and Lexington continued to carry the momentum. Truax scored again on a backdoor layup and Kannon Seim made two free throws before Truax canned another three to make it 21-13.

But that was when Hershey went on a run of their own. Cole Murdock scored the next basket and Aidan Truesdale buried a three before Houston Hill made a jump shot from 18 feet to tie the game. The Panthers took the lead when Hill knocked down a jumper just inside the three-point arc and Murdock followed with the next two hoops to make it 27-21 with two minutes left in the first half.

“I thought we responded well,” Jorgenson said. “It’s hard to come off a five-day (Christmas moratorium with no practice) and we came out a little flat. But our kids did a good job of resilience and bouncing back.”

Hershey led 31-27 at halftime and they wasted no time taking control in the second half. The Panthers went up by double figures at 42-31 when Murdock made a jumper from 16 feet three minutes into the third quarter. Truesdale drove for a basket and Murdock got a free throw to make it a 14-point lead.

The lead kept growing from there as Hershey picked up their third win in four games.

“When we’re versatile and doing things right, it makes the game easy and our kids play with a lot more energy,” Jorgenson said.

“Sometimes it takes a couple of reminders (to play their game) but these kids have played so much together that they do it on their own. They do a nice job of holding each other accountable and doing the little things correct. When someone makes a mistake, they might get on him but they also build each other up.”

Score by quarters:

Lexington: 14-13-9-2 – 38

Hershey: 13-18-19-13 – 63

Lexington (38)-Tyler Thorell 9, Adan Colon 6, Kannon Seim 6, Liam Denker 2, Bryant Truax 9, Abdinajib Muktar 2, Avery Lul 2, Eduardo Jimenez 2

Hershey (63)-Cole Murdock 15, Sam Fowler 3, Houston Hill 19, Jack Smith 4, Ryan Murphy 4, Aidan Truesdale 17, J.T. Lantis 1

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