Comeback falls short

Hillcrest travelled to Pekin Monday to make up the game that was snowed out on Friday. It was tough sledding, as the Ravens could muster only eight points in the first half and trailed 18-8 at the break. Hillcrest bounced back to score 30 in the second half, but it wasn’t enough as the Panthers won 47-38 in the hard-fought affair.

Eli Ours paced Hillcrest with 21 points, including three treys, and had six steals. Kobe Borntrager scored seven points and Aaron Hershberger had a team-high eight rebounds.

Coach Dwight Gingerich said “Pekin was outstanding defensively and really bothered us with their length and on the boards. It took us a little time to get into attack mode, and we played with better awareness the second half. Defensively we played pretty well throughout, against a quality team that is leading the league.”

The loss drops Hillcrest to 6-6 in conference play, 6-7 overall. Pekin goes to 11-1 in conference play, their only loss coming at the hands of the Ravens in December.