No, it wasn’t a win.
But, the inaugural game on the bench for Hidden Valley head coach Kevin Burcham offered plenty of positives for the guy who took over for VHSL Hall of Famer Troy Wells.
Tuesday night in the Titans’ season opener, Burcham’s squad held tough before falling to Heritage 58-49 in the Titan gym.
“i was pleased with our effort and the way we battled,” Burcham said in his first post-game interview as the Hidden Valley hoops boss. “For the first game of the season, we executed well. At halftime, we told the guys to keep grinding. In the second half, our youth showed. We could have got better shots at the end. I think we got a little tight.”
Although Heritage came to Southwest County with a win over Jefferson Forest under their belt, and scored the first three baskets to take a 6-0 lead, Hidden Valley rallied to go up 11-10 after one quarter.
The Pioneers led by as many as five in the second quarter before the Titans closed on a surge capped of by junior forward Joseph Preseren’s old-fashioned 3-point play with 4.3 seconds left that sent the teams to the break tied at 23.
The game was tied four times to start the third quarter before Heritage sophomore guard CJ Rosser collected the ball for three straight breakaways that helped put the Pioneers up 35-29. Hidden Valley closed the gap to 37-33 at the end of the third.
The Titans opened the fourth quarter with a basket to make it 37-35,, but Heritage scored the next seven points to take a 44-35 lead, and although the Titans closed to 49-44 with three minutes to go, Heritage kept Hidden Valley at bay down the stretch.
Heritage answered the call in the final frame, hitting 75% of their shots from the field and hitting eight free throws.
“They hit some big shots.” Burcham pointed out. “They had guys on the free throw line that were able to ice it.”
“Hidden Valley is a tough team,” Heritage second-year head coach Les Camm said afterward. “They had good shooters and we had a tough time with their flex cuts in the first half. They had do many cuts to the middle we finally went to a zone. That helped because we have a lot of length.”
Hidden Valley was led in scoring by Preseren’s 13 points. Junior guard Joseph Keenan and 6-4 sophomore Jonah Fitzgerald each had 11 points for the Titans.
Jordan Hamlette had a game-high 18 points for Heritage, while Caleb Snead added 14 and Rosser poured in 11 for the Pioneers.
“I feel good about this team,” Burcham added. “We’ll keep getting better.”
Bill Turner
