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Krout's heroics lift Hanover over Delone Catholic


The senior guard scored 25 points, 14 in the second half

Nathan Myers wasn't worried at all.

There were two minutes left in the fourth quarter against rival Delone Catholic, and the Hanover coach had just watched his team surrender the lead for the first time all night. But with the ball in the hands of Kyle Krout, Myers was feeling pretty confident.

"Any time he's open he can shoot the ball," Myers said. "He was very, very good tonight."

Krout certainly was very good Tuesday, and with the Nighthawks down one on the road, he immediately drained a 3-pointer to give them back the lead. He would then go 5-for-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to finish off a 41-37 Hanover win.

It was a remarkably clutch performance by the senior, who scored 10 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter. While he was responsible for the bulk of his team's points, he said he never felt pressure to do it all himself.

"Especially (after losing the lead), I knew we needed a score and a stop at that point," Krout said. "I wasn't really focused on me taking the shot. We have kids that can knock down shots. I'm not worried about putting that pressure of me.

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Hanover vs. Delone Catholic basketball
Logan Alexander gave Delone a one-point lead, but Kyle Krout answered with a 3-pointer before icing the game with late free throws.

The Nighthawks (4-1) do have other capable offensive players, but on Tuesday it was Krout's talent on display for most of the night. Not only was the guard almost perfect from the free throw line, he consistently got to basket and hit numerous tough shots off the glass.

Delone Catholic knew what was coming most of the night and still seemingly had no answer for it. So what exactly made Krout so hard to defend?

"He was more aggressive than anybody guarding him," Delone coach Lawrence Williams said. "He took the ball to the basket, I'm willing to bet he had like 25 points. He played strong and finished strong."

As good as Krout played, it was Hanover's aggressive play as a team that really made the difference in a close game. The Nighthawks grabbed the game's first seven rebounds and quickly jumped out to a 6-0 lead. Although the Squires (2-4) eventually heated up after missing their first eight shots, they struggled to grab rebounds all night.

The Squires actually outscored the Nighthawks 22-20 in a wild second half, with point guard Logan Alexander trading big baskets with Krout. With plenty of passionate fans in the building for both teams, things became so intense that Myers admitted he lost track of the score at one point.

"We sort of got rattled, some things didn't go in our favor and we just had to calm down," Myers said. "You can't mimic these situations in practice. So we are responding to them."

Although his team showed some fight down the stretch, WIlliams was in anything but a positive mood afterwards. He said the Squires drilled extensively on boxing out and rebounding in practice but "it doesn't seem to be working right now."

He added that both Alexander and Tavian Dorsey need to improve if the Squires are going to start winning. Alexander scored nine points in the second half but none in the first, and Dorsey was held scoreless the entire game.

"I seriously do not know what the problem is," Williams said. "I'm going to have to go home and stay up late and dream of some crazy ideas because Logan is not the kid he was last year and Tavian isn't either. We've got to get those guys playing the way that they did."

Hanover 41, Delone Catholic 37

Hanover (41)

Kyle Krout 9 6-7 25, Hart 2 2-2 6, McQueen 1 1-2 3, Hill 1 1-2 3, Martz 1 0-1 2, Kenworthy 1 0-0 2, Bowman 0 0-0 0, Williams 0 0-0 0 Totals — 15 10-14 41

Delone Catholic (37)

Bryce Mondorff 4 5-6 13, Alexander 4 0-0 9, Maitland 2 0-2 6, Kuntz 2 0-0 4, McNutt 2 0-0 5, Dorsey 0 0-0 0 Totals — 14 5-8 37

Hanover _ 12 _ 9 _ 6 _ 14 _ — _ 41

Delone Catholic _ 6 _ 9 _ 8 _ 14 _ — _ 37

3-point goals — Hanover .1 (Krout) Delone Catholic 4 (Maitland 2, Alexander, McNutt)

JV score — Delone Catholic 54, Hanover 33.