The Blazers, playing for the first time in 21 days, dropped the opener to Baldwin-Wallace College—a team that spent the first three weeks of the season in the top-25—88-58 and fell in the consolation final to Eastern University, 60-56. Santo Provenzano led Hood offensively in the tourney, averaging 18.5 points per game, and on the boards, with seven per game.
Sean Robine averaged 10.5 PPG in the two games and David Wilson put up an average of 10 points a contest.
Hood has now lost a season-high three straight games to fall to .500 at 5-5.
First Round
Baldwin-Wallace 88, Hood 58
Dec. 29 — Santo Provenzano scored 19 points and Sean Robine had 15, but it wasn’t nearly enough for the Blazers in their opener against Baldwin-Wallace (8-2) as they fell 88-58 in the first round of the Weenie Miller Classic.
The Yellow Jackets opened the game on a 19-3 run that took just three minutes, 57 seconds and never looked back. They shot 51.5 percent from the floor on the game, including going 11-for-25 from 3-point land, while Hood shot just 27.9 percent and went only 2-for-14 from beyond the arc.
Chad Clark scored 17 points to lead four Baldwin-Wallace players in double-figures. Keith Aufmuth tallied 15 points on 5-for-5 shooting on 3s, while Tom Harrington added 10 points to go along with a game-high 11 assists. Charod Hale had 10 points and nine boards off the bench.
Jesse Gutekunst had a team-high two blocks for Hood and matched Provenzano on the boards with seven.
Consolation Final
Eastern 60, Hood 56
Dec. 30—Hood pulled within one point twice in the final two minutes, 18 seconds in the consolation final against Eastern University (4-7), but failed to take the lead, and lost to the Eagles, 60-56.
Sean Robine and Dennis Tressler nailed back-to-back treys, respectively, to pull within 55-54 with 2:18 remaining. After Ronald Volpe’s layup for Eastern at the 1:34 mark, the Eagles went up 57-54 before Hood’s Darnell Edmonds was fouled attempting a 3-pointer with 1:08 remaining.
He hit two-of-three free throws to get the Blazers within one at 57-56, but they went scoreless over the final minute to suffer their third consecutive loss.
Santo Provenzano scored a game-high 18 points for Hood and David Wilson had 14. Hood held a 36-26 advantage on the boards, but turned the ball over 25 times to just 13 for Eastern.
Hood gets back in action Jan. 4 when it travels to in-state rival Salisbury University for a 7 p.m. tip-off.