For one quarter Wednesday night at Giant Center, the Hanover High boys' basketball team was hell on wheels.

The Nighthawks stretched, bent, twisted and confused Trinity, the defending District 3 Class AA boys' basketball champ, into a tiny pretzel.

If only every other quarter had been that successful.

When it came down to it, Hanover couldn't sustain its lightning-in-a-bottle second stanza. Through three other periods, the Hawks were no match for Trinity's superior size, depth and ability as the Shamrocks jumped into the district final for the third straight year with a 62-39 win.

"We have a lot of interchangeable parts, and that's extremely important to this team," said Trinity head coach Larry Kostelac Jr., whose team improved to 16-7. "We don't have what we had in the past, where we can get a guy who can go make it happen for himself. We don't have that. But we have eight kids we feel very, very comfortable with, going out and passing the ball and moving people."

Trinity was led by four players in double figures, highlighted by Eric Kindler's 19 points and Jack Osborne's efficient 14-point effort. Kevin Agnew added 13, and Michael Diminick chipped in 11.

But the news isn't all bad for the Nighthawks.

Hanover (17-6) can continue its historic season with a win over Delone Catholic -- 68-57 loser to Lancaster Mennonite in the other semifinal -- on Friday at a site to be determined. A win would lock up the third and final PIAA Class AA tournament berth out of District 3.

And if history serves as an indication, the Hawks are in a good position to do that. Hanover swept the season series with the Squires, beating them 48-45 in the second game and 67-58 in the fourth game of the season.

"It's a one-game playoff," Hanover head coach Nathan Myers said. "Win and you keep playing. Lose and your season's over."

On Wednesday, junior point guard Pete Yingst led the Hawks with a team-high 17 points, including eight in a critical second

Hanover's Pete Yingst (4) tries to get around Trinity's Tom Gruschow during Wednesday's District 3 Class AA semifinal game at Giant Center in Hershey. (Evening Sun Photo by Meghan Gauriloff)
quarter that gave Hanover hope after a disappointing first frame.

"We definitely wanted to speed them up a little bit since they could run their halfcourt offense so well," said Yingst, who also grabbed five boards. "We felt we could do better in transition."

In that decisive second period, the Hawks all but erased the nine-point deficit Trinity created in the first by hitting an inside-outside combination from the perimeter.

Senior forward Ben Connor, the team's leading scorer entering the game, also scored eight points of his 12 points in the quarter, including his last of two 3-point makes with 1 minute, 39 seconds left in the frame.

His trey cut the lead to four, 25-21, before Yingst added a difficult pull-up jumper with 56 seconds left that cut it to two.

"We knew we were going to have to knock down some shots, especially on the outside, to be in the basketball game," Myers said. "We did in the second quarter. You could see the difference."

Trinity went into intermission with momentum, though, when Osborne, a junior wing, nailed a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left that pushed it back to five, 28-23.

And that was the larger picture of how efficient the Shamrocks were on offense. Trinity stoked the fire with that momentum-crushing three before the half and punched the Hawks back on their heels to begin the final 16 minutes.

Kindler, who scored 13 of his 19 in the second half, remained a focal point out of halftime even though he missed much of the first two quarters because of a rolled ankle he suffered early in the first quarter.

He pumped in two of the team's first four baskets en route to giving Trinity a 37-27 edge less than three minutes out of the break. Much of the offense came from the low block.

"It was a concerted effort," Kostelac said. "And that's something we wanted to do all night long. We finally got it done in the second half."

Trinity piled on 34 points in a bulldozing second half while limiting Hanover's chances on the outside. The Hawks scored 16 in the final 16 minutes and went 16-of-51 (27 percent) overall, including 7-of-26 in the second half.

"Shots weren't falling," said Hanover senior Brandon Wentz, who had five points. "The whole game, shots weren't falling. We had some opportunities. We just didn't really execute on them."
cmull@eveningsun.com