Boys Basketball Weekly Recap
Hillcrest Academy made the trip to Letts Tuesday, overcame a slow start and returned home with a 62-35 victory over the Falcons. L-M jumped to an 8-0 lead early, as the Ravens struggled to find the hoop through most of the first quarter. A Noah Miller buzzer-beating three made it 8-5 to close the first period. The Ravens owned the second quarter, outscoring the Falcons 17-4 in the frame to complete a 22-4 run to lead 22-12 at the half. L-M hung around through much of the third quarter before Hillcrest began to pull away. The Ravens led 40-23 after three periods and three minutes later pushed the margin to 54-26.
Junior guard Luke Schrock led the balanced scoring attack for the Ravens with 18 points, including two from distance. Noah Miller connected on three treys and finished with 11 points. Grant Bender overcame foul trouble to score 10 points, Seth Ours drilled three from long range to finish with nine points, and Josiah Beachy sparked off the bench with nine points, including one more trifecta. Bryce Bailey had three points and Aiden Krabill added two to complete the scoring for the Ravens.
Schrock also had team-highs of seven rebounds and eight assists and had three steals. Bender also had three steals. Miller had six assists and two steals, Ours dished for three assists, and Krabill drew a pair of charges.
Coach Dwight Gingerich said, “I really liked how we kept our heads through the first quarter despite struggling to score. Our defense really picked us up, forcing turnovers, and Noah led with poise as our floor general. It was good to see us improve through the game.”
The Ravens improve to 2-1 on the season.
Hillcrest Academy was back in the friendly confines of Hillcrest Union Thursday night and came away with a 74-37 win over the Columbus Wildcats. The Ravens saw Columbus knock down two from downtown to go up 6-0 before hunkering down and going on a 29-2 run for a 29-8 lead after one quarter. The Wildcats bounced back to outscore the Ravens 14-12 in the second quarter and Hillcrest led 41-22 at the break. The Ravens turned it up a notch to lead 62-33 after three quarters as reserves played out the rest of the game.
Grant Bender scored 15 first-half points including a buzzer-beater from half-court to close the half, and finished with team-highs of 23 points and nine rebounds. Luke Schrock and Seth Ours each scored 11 points, as Ours dropped two treys and Schrock had one. Josiah Beachy had nine points, Noah Miller tallied eight and Aiden Krabill scored six points. Bryce Bailey and Mason Bender completed the scoring with four and two points, respectively. Miller and Schrock had seven rebounds and four assists apiece. Miller had a team-high five steals and Ours had three.
Coach Dwight Gingerich said, “We were able to get the pace up early and score off our pressure, which was good to see, as we’ve been working on tightening up our traps. I thought we had good ball movement, and it’s been good to see our assist numbers go up, as we are sharing the ball and making the extra pass.”
Hillcrest goes to 3-1 on the season and next plays Saturday against Rivermont Collegiate. Game time for the girls varsity is 3:30 p.m., followed by the boys varsity.