Ravens active defense helps bring home a win against the Wildcats
The Hillcrest Academy Ravens scored a 44-27 victory in their first road game of the season Friday over the Columbus Wildcats. The Ravens jumped to a 15-4 lead after one quarter, only to see the Wildcats cut the margin to six at the half, 23-17. Columbus scored first in the second half before Hillcrest put together a 13-2 run to lead 36-23 after three quarters. The Ravens kept the pressure on with a 9-2 run to open the fourth period and put the game away, as everyone got in on the action.
John Hughes led the way for the Ravens with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Grant Bender scored eight points and Eli Ours had seven points. Noah Miller added five points, Luke Schrock and Aiden Krabill tallied four apiece, Aaron Hershberger scored two points, and Aidan Yoder completed the scoring with a free throw.
The active Raven defense totaled 18 steals on the evening, led by Bender with five, Miller with four, Hershberger and Ours with three apiece, and Schrock with two. Ours had three assists, and Bender, Hughes and Krabill each had two. Schrock grabbed four rebounds and Miller had three.
Coach Dwight Gingerich said “Columbus was patient on offense, forcing us to grind it out on defense. It was good to see us pull away after Columbus got back into the game, as we found a better rhythm at both ends. This was a case of when we are not shooting as well as we’d like, our defense can still be there.”
Hillcrest goes to 2-2 and next plays at Cardinal Tuesday in a non-divisional match-up.