HILLSBORO — Hillsboro extended its winning streak to 13 consecutive games Friday night with 68-54 victory over visiting East Clinton.
East Clinton seized control of the game in the early going with a 14-11 first quarter lead, while Hillsboro played all seniors in the quarter. East Clnton stayed with the home standing Indians until the final minutes of the half when the momentum switched over to Hillsboro.
With emotions riding high on the floor and in the stands, EC was called for a technical foul which enabled Hillsboro to forge ahead at the intermission, 34-26.
As the teams were exiting for halftime, a bench technical was assessed against the Astro coaching staff. Numerous East Clinton fans loudly protested the back-to-back technicals and several fans were ejected.
Hillsboro came out red hot in the third period, ignited by Lawton Perry’s three treys to push the advantage to 49-38. Ryan Scott led the Indians scoring attack with 23 points, including 12 in the final period as the Indians put the game away.
In a losing cause, Branson Smith had 28 for the Astros, 14 coming in each half.
Winning Hillsboro head coach Miles Burton was pleased with his squad’s performance, but was quick to credit East Clinton for their relentless fight and intensity.
“While I am proud of my guys, I want to credit East Clinton,” Hillsboro coach Miles Burton said. “They play hard and that is a credit to coach (Phil) Shori. Here is a team which has turned it around, they came in with 10 wins, and beat Blanchester by 28 points. They made us fight every time up and down the floor.”
For the Astros, Shori was analytic regarding his team.
“Here is the reality — they are a tough Division II team and we lost by just 14 on their home floor. As always my team gave supreme effort, but it wasn’t enough.”
SUMMARY
Feb 12, 2021
@Hillsboro High School
Hillsboro 68 East Clinton 54
(54) EAST CLINTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) B. Smith 11-1-5-28 Collom 5-0-0-10 J. Smith 2-0-1-5 Runyon 3-2-0-8 Tolle 1-0-0-2 Davis 0-0-1-1 Arnold 0-0-0-0 TOTALS 22-3-7-54
(68) HILLSBORO (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Lewis 0-0-0-0 Captain 2-2-0-6 Scott 8-4-5-25 Hunter 0-0-0-0 Clark 1-0-1-3 Parry 4-3-2-13 Price 2-2-2-8 Tira 0-0-1-1 Miller 6-0-0-12 TOTALS 23-11-11-68
