Hershey came out of halftime hot on Friday and pulled away from Maxwell to earn their first win of the season, 66-46, at the Randy Gilson Activities Center in Maxwell.

“I thought our kids did a nice job of distributing the ball,” Hershey Head Coach Dustin Jorgenson said. “We did a good job of playing off each other and taking care of the ball.”

Maxwell (2-7) led 17-13 at the end of the first quarter as neither team got much of an advantage over the other until late in the first half.

But Hershey (1-9) started to build momentum in the last two minutes before the half. They took a 28-22 lead after J.T. Lantis made three free throws on two trips to the line. It was 28-23 at the break as Jesse Reyes made a free throw for Maxwell.

The second half began with the Wildcats scoring another point from the charity stripe, this time from Kole Jones. But that was when the Panthers got going. Aidan Truesdale made a three-pointer and Cole Murdock followed with a basket. Lantis got a breakaway layup off a steal. Houston Hill scored from close within and Truesdale hit another three that bounced in off the rim to make it 40-24.

“We created and passed the ball to the open guy,” Jorgenson said. “But we really hang our hat on our defense and I thought our kids did a good job on the defensive side.”

The lead grew to 20 after that and it remained around that mark for the rest of the game as Maxwell couldn’t rally back.

Hershey plays a deep rotation and has numerous players who can put the ball in the basket. Before Friday, they haven’t gotten the offense to flow consistently. A big reason is that the seniors haven’t played with the freshmen and sophomores, as well as Lantis, the lone junior who transferred from Sutherland, before this year.

But just because the Panthers haven’t jelled yet, doesn’t mean they can’t this season.

“We’ve continued to get better,” Jorgenson said. “The chemistry is there. We’ve just got to continue to keep grinding. We play a tough schedule. We’ve just got to keep battling together.”

Maxwell Head Coach Bryce Byrn said Hershey proved to be a tough out.

“They’re way better than their record shows, which we knew coming in,” he said. “They’re well-coached. They’re athletic, tall and lanky. They do all the fundamentals right. They kept chopping wood and coming right at us.”

“I felt we handled their ball pressure well in the first half. That was the key in the second half, their pressure forced us into an uncomfortable position, offensively, which in turn made us turn the ball over. It stood our offense up and made us take shots we weren’t hoping to take.”

Next, Hershey will host Valentine (5-5) on Friday, Jan. 17, while Maxwell will play at Overton (4-5) on Saturday.

Score by quarters:

Hershey: 13-15-18-20 – 66

Maxwell: 17-6-7-16 – 46

Hershey (66)-Cole Murdock 3, J.T. Lantis 17, Houston Hill 7, Aidan Truesdale 20, Kellan Spearman 10, Max Berntson 3, Jack Smith 6

Maxwell (46)-Griffin Flock 2, Cole Huffman 12, Jesse Reyes 10, Owen Pagel 4, Kole Jones 9, Jagger Kleewein 1, Brison Brewer 2, Joaquin Vega 5, Jordan Redden 1

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