Hillsboro started Tuesday’s road game strong against the Miami Trace Panthers, but lost their momentum in the second half when Trace’s Blake Pittser tossed a 3-pointer that brought the Panthers into the lead at 43-42.

After a short-lived 1-point lead in the first two minutes of the game, Trace had trouble shooting throughout the first quarter. Marshall Ward, Philip Mycroft and Josh Keets gathered momentum and kept the scoring hot for the Indians, who finished off the first quarter at a 3-point lead with 21-18 on the scoreboard.

The Indians struggled to hold onto the lead in the second quarter after Blake Pittser threw up a 3-point shot that brought the teams to a tie at 31-31, but Marshall Ward fought back with a 3-pointer of his own, taking Hillsboro’s 3-point lead back with less than three minutes on the clock.

By the half, the Indians still had their lead at 36-33.

Hillsboro lost it in the third quarter when they forgot to score for nearly four minutes, and the Panthers crept back into the lead when Blake Pittser brought the paw down on a 3-pointer at 4:15, taking the lead from the Indians with 43-42 on the scoreboard.

The Panthers turned that 1-point lead into a 24-point lead in the next quarter and a half, sweeping Hillsboro under the rug with 17 and 27 points for the third and fourth quarters, respectively.

Hillsboro scored 11 points in the third quarter and only 6 in the fourth, and Miami Trace took the win with 77-53 on the scoreboard when the clock ran out.

Watson led scoring for the Indians with 19 points.

Miami Trace’s Tyrae led scoring for the Panthers with 25 points.

“We’ve got to figure out to start a little better,” said Miami Trace head coach Rob Pittser. “We’re at about three games in a row where we’ve struggled in the first half in scoring the ball, handling the ball and guarding the ball, so while it’s nice to post 27-points in the fourth quarter, we’ve got to figure out a way to be more consistent.”

“The fourth quarter, obviously, was the difference of the game,” said Hillsboro coach Bruce Miles. “We knew that we had to weather the storm, we knew they’d come at us hard in the fourth quarter. We didn’t get out and push and transition like we wanted, I thought we had some tired legs in the fourth quarter, so we tried to rotate some guys but we just didn’t get it out.”

Summary

Miami Trace — 18 15 17 27 — 77

Hillsboro — 21 15 11 6 — 53

MTHS – D. Pettiford: 3(2)-4/8-16, Carter: 3-810-14, McDonald: (1)-3, T. Pettiford: 1-2/2-4, Leach: 1-0/2-4, Pittser: 2(2)2/2-12, Tyrae: 5(5)-25, Connell: 1/2-1

Totals: 15(10)-17/27-77

HHS – Ward: 2-3/5-7, Watson: 5(2)3/4-19, Anderson: 2-4, Keets: 3(2)0/1-12, 5-1/1-11

Totals: 17(4)-7/11-53

Fairfield beats Manchester 84-74

The Fairfield Lions had a good night Tuesday when they beat Manchester by 10 points in a home game.

The teams each made a 21-point gain the first quarter, but Fairfield out-scored Manchester by two points in the second, taking the score to 38-36 by the half.

Fairfield had a strong second half, scoring 25 and 21 for the third and fourth quarters, respectively, and Manchester struggled to keep up with 18 points for the third and 20 points for the fourth.

In the end, the Lions pulled out the win at 84-74 when the clock ran out.

Summary

Fairfield — 21 17 25 21 — 84

Manchester — 21 15 18 20 — 74

FHS – Gragg: 5-1/2-11, Walker: 1(2)-1/2-9, Evans: 6-2/6-14, Daulton: 5(2)5/6-21, Current: 5-1/1-11, Ayres: 8-2/2-18

Totals: 30(4)-12/19-84

MHS – Gould: 1-1/2-3, Combs: 1/2-1, Aldridge: 1-1/2-3, Thornburg: 2(2)-3/3-13, Bilyeu: 1(2)0/1-8, Young: 10-4/6-24, Cox: 2(5)-3/3-22

Totals: 17(9)-13-19-74

Reach David Wright at 937-402-2570 or on Twitter @SportsWrighter.