The Hillsboro Indians (8-16) just didn’t have it on Wednesday night as they faced off against Washington in the sectional semi finals with a final score of 72-37.
As the game started, Hillsboro took an early lead with a made free throw by Phillip Mycroft. That was followed by a basket from Washington but Mycroft scored another bucket himself to put Hillsboro up 3-2. With 6:16 left in the first quarter, Washington went to the line and made 2-of-2 from the line to retake a 4-3 lead. That was the last lead change of the game as Washington never looked back. At the end of the quarter, the game was still somewhat close with a score of 18-12.
In the second quarter, the Blue Lions took off. With help from untimely turnovers from the Indians, who ended up with 25 on the night, 17 of them in the first half. The Blue Lions capitalized all night on turnovers, scoring 22 points directly the result of a turnover. By the time the first half came to a close, the Hillsboro boys had fallen behind 40-21.
In the second half, the Blue Lions scored two points for every one Hillsboro scored, going 17-8 in the third and 15-8 in the fourth to take home the victory 72-37.
“The ball got rolling in the wrong direction for us and obviously, turnovers were the difference in this game,” said Hillsboro Head Coach Bruce Miles after the game. “A turnover leads to an easy bucket and that was the story all night. Our guys got that in that big hole early and we told then at halftime that it was going to take one possession at a time and whittle down the lead, but we just had a tough time tonight on both ends of the floor. We didn’t shoot it well. We knew we would have to shoot the ball well to beat an extremely athletic Washington team.
“We wish our seniors Logan Kibler, DJ Brown and Jacon Deatley the best. I knew this is not how they wanted their careers to end but they’ve had a huge impact on this program. I also have to talk about my manager Josh Ford. The kid has been around it seems like forever. He works the film for us, gets the court ready, gets the balls ready. I wish every kid had the spirit that Josh Ford has in life. He’s always positive. That kid has made a huge impact on us.
“We have such a young team and these guys have gotten invaluable experience all year. These freshman and sophomores got some time so we have to dedicate ourselves to getting in the weight room in the offseason so we can match some of these other teams’ physicality. I saw growth in this team all year. I know our record might not show that but I saw it in each individual kid. I was proud to coach these kids and looking forward to getting back at it after this 28-day no contact period is over.”
Box:
WHS – 18 22 17 15 – 72
HHS – 12 9 8 8 – 37
Hillsboro: Marshall Ward 2-6-10; Logan Kibler 2-0-4; Josh Keets 1-0-2; D.J. Brown 2 (1)-2-9; Phillip Mycroft 3-2-8; Reece Bloomfield 0-0-0; Matthew Ryan 1-2-4. TOTALS — 11(1) 12/22 – 37.
Washington: Max Knisley 4 (1)-5-16; Jarett Patton 3-4-10; Evan Upthegrove 0-0-0; Kory Proby 1-0-2; Ryan Flora 0-0-0; C.J. Taylor 0-0-0; Kenny Upthegrove 1-0-2; Dillon Steward 0-0-0; Griffin Shaw 3 (3)-4-19; Cameron Eckles 8-4-20; Richard Burns Jr. 0-0-0; Brian Wilson 0-0-0; Jacob Knisley 1-0-2 ; Blaise Tayese 0-1-1. TOTALS — 21(4) 18/27 – 72.
Reach Robert Stegbauer at 937-393-3456 ext. 1679 or on Twitter @RStegbauer.
