The Hillsboro Indians hosted the Washington Blue Lions on Friday at Hillsboro High School in a matchup of Frontier Athletic Conference boys basketball teams and lost by a final score of 67-53.
“I’m just so excited for our guys,” said Washington Head Coach Connor Scott. “We had one league win last year and we have one league win this year.”
The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair that featured 10 lead changes and one tie as the Blue Lions secured a 14-13 lead heading into the second quarter.
In the second quarter Washington’s Dillon Steward scored 12 points to help the Blue Lions extend their lead to 31-22 at the halftime buzzer.
The Indians Mason Swayne and Ethan Watson combined to score seven points in the period as Hillsboro tried to keep the Blue Lions within reach.
After half-time Washington came out on a mission and quickly pushed their lead to double digits less than two minutes into the third quarter with the scoreboard reading 37-27.
Blaise Tayese and Steward each scored six points in the quarter for the blue lions and Evan Upthegrove added four of his own as Washington doubled their half-time lead to 14 points at 49-35 as the third quarter came to a close.
Brad Miller led the Indians in the third quarter with six points while Watson chipped in four of his own in a futile effort to keep the Indians in the game.
In the fourth quarter Washington was able to add to its already significant lead as steward, Tayese and upthegrove kept the pressure on the Indians and secured the 67-50 victory.
Washington forced 17 turnovers by the Indians that led to several easy buckets for the Blue Lions as they cruised to victory.
“I don’t know how to coach non-agressive defense. We want to get in you, we want to make you uncomfortable and when we can we want to jump in passing lanes and get in transition because you’ve seen our athletes; I want to be in transition,” Scott said.
Steward led all scorers with 32 points and Watson had 11 to lead the Indians who also got solid contributions from Swayne and Josh Keets as each scored 10 points.
“Steward is always on the verge of being out of control but he’s so athletic,” said Scott. “It’s like he almost turns it over and then oh my gosh he finishes an incredible layup and the thing that I am proud of him for is he is defending at a high level. He’s playing both sides and he was incredible tonight.”
Washington will take on the Chillicothe Cavaliers Tuesday, December 12, at home while Hillsboro will take on the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs at home on Saturday, December 8.
Score by quarters
HHS 13-11-11-18
WHS 14-17-18-18
Hillsboro: Swayne 3(1)-1/2-10; Temple 2-4; Magulac 2(1)-0/2-7; (1)-3; Watsom 5-1/2-11; Keets 5-10; Miller 4-8
Totals: 21(3)-2/6-53
Washington: Steward 13(1)-3/3-32; Upthegrove 1(1)-4/7-9; Matthews (1)-3; Tayese 5-3/5-13; Porter 2-1/2-5; Cartwright (1)-3; Burns 1-2
Totals: 22(4)-11/17-67
Ryan Applegate is the sports editor for The Times-Gazette. Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.
