Ravens earn hard-fought victory

Noah Miller

The Hillcrest Ravens snapped a three-game losing streak with a hard-fought 49-38 victory over Mediapolis in Hillcrest Union Tuesday. The Bulldogs won the first meeting in December by the score of 56-52 in Mediapolis.

Mediapolis got out to leads of 5-0 and 14-8 early before Hillcrest scored four straight to trail 14-12 after one period. The game was knotted at 21 at the half, as both teams struggled to score in the second quarter. Drew Blauvelt provided a third-quarter spark for the Ravens, scoring all six of his points in the frame, as Hillcrest outscored the Bulldogs 18-8 to lead 39-29 entering the final stanza. Eli Ours was 7-9 from the line in the fourth period to help maintain the separation, and propel the Ravens to the win.

Ours finished with 19 points and five assists, and Kobe Borntrager recorded 17 points, eight rebounds and four blocks, to pace the Ravens.

Coach Dwight Gingerch said “this was a big win for our team at this stage after several tough losses. We are playing tighter as a team, and harder. Our ball movement was better, which was reflected in our improved assist numbers.”