WAYLAND
Hillcrest Academy’s Ravens had waited more than a month for this showdown in a packed gym on a Friday night in late January.
Since losing by two points to WACO on its home gym …
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WAYLAND
Hillcrest Academy’s Ravens had waited more than a month for this showdown in a packed gym on a Friday night in late January.
Since losing by two points to WACO on its home gym on Alumni Night in mid-December, Hillcrest’s boys basketball team hadn’t lost a game. The Ravens won nine straight, including one by 59 points, and all along had pointed to last Friday night’s return game at WACO.
“We had this one marked on our calendar ever since that day,” Hillcrest senior guard Seth Ours said. “We worked really hard and prepared really well to kind of do the same thing to them.”
With the final seconds ticking off the clock, and Hillcrest trailing by a point, the ball wound up in the hands of Ours.
And with 11 seconds left, he hit a 3-pointer that sent every Hillcrest player on the bench and the spectators behind them to their feet, wildly screaming.
“I knew it was good when I shot it,” Ours said.
That shot, plus a free throw by Rowan Miller with 8 seconds left, gave the Ravens a 48-45 victory and a 10th straight victory. They jumped onto the court as the final buzzer sounded to celebrate.
“It’s a great win on the road at this time of year against a team that’s playing really well,” Hillcrest head coach Dwight Gingerich said.
“It means a lot,” Ours said. “The first game (Dec. 17), them coming into our house, narrowly beating us. Kind of gut wrenching.”
Ours scored 13 points and hit three 3-pointers, helping the Ravens come back from eight points down.
Bryce Bailey added 10 points and 9 rebounds, and senior forward Mason Bender was a force inside the paint, scoring 8 points and grabbing 5 rebounds. On the winning play, the ball went inside to Bender before it came back to the 3-point line for an open Ours.
“We passed it into Mason at the post,” Ours said. “My guy kind of doubled down on him at the post and that left me open.”
Until those dramatic moments in the fourth quarter, the Ravens struggled in a defensive battle against the Warriors (12-4). A 3-point shot just before the halftime buzzer put WACO ahead by five points, 22-17, and a 3-pointer by Christian Stacy put WACO up by eight points midway through the third quarter.
“We struggled, man to man defensively, at times,” Gingerich said. “We looked a little bit lost offensively.”
Perhaps, it was the night itself, a Southeast Iowa Super Conference North showdown played in a gym that didn’t have an empty seat and had spectators crowded into entryways to catch the action.
“It’s probably just that we’re amped up. We’re excited,” Gingerich said. “We’ve just got to relax and get back to what we’ve practiced.”
In the fourth quarter, they did. After cutting WACO’s lead to four, 35-31, at the end of the third quarter, a basket by Bailey with 4:25 left in the game finally gave Hillcrest a one-point edge. From there, it was an end-to-end battle.
Bender gave Hillcrest a 44-43 lead with an inside basket with 1:10 left, then Isaac Rich put WACO back in front with 40 seconds left.
That all set up Ours’ dramatic shot.
“I’m just proud of them staying the course when things weren’t clicking for us,” Gingerich said. “We got better as the game went along.”
Hillcrest 68,
Wapello 33
Mason Bender scored a game-high 14 points and had a game-high 8 rebounds in the Ravens’ 68-33 win over Wapello on Jan. 21.
Eleven Hillcrest players scored, including all five starters, as the Ravens defeated the winless Indians.
Rowan Miller added 12 points and Seth Ours had 10.
Kale Bailey had a game-high 4 steals and 9 points, and Bender had 3 steals and 2 blocked shots.
Justyn Faulkner led Wapello with 13 points.
GAME STATS
HILLCREST 48, WACO 45
Hillcrest 10 7 14 17 -- 48
WACO 10 12 13 10 -- 45
Hillcrest scoring: Seth Ours 13, Bryce Bailey 10, Kale Bailey 9, Mason Bender 8, Rowan Miller 8.
Hillcrest leading rebounders: Bryce Bailey 9, Bender 5.
HILLCREST 68, WAPELLO 33
Wapello 11 11 7 4 -- 33
Hillcrest 19 19 10 20 -- 68
Wapello scoring: Justyn Faulkner 13, Kinnick Richenberger 8, Treyton Schulz 5, Isaac Hewitt 5, Tucker Fisk 2.
Hillcrest scoring: Mason Bender 14, Rowan Miller 12, Seth Ours 10, Kale Bailey 9, Mason Helmuth 7, Bryce Bailey 5, Lincoln Miller 3, Cohen Nachtigall 3, Isaac Birky 2, Kayden Estell 2, Owen Scott 1.
Wapello leading rebounders: Faulkner 6, Fisk 5.
Hillcrest leading rebounders: Bender 8, Rowan Miller 3, Bryce Bailey 3, Ours 3, Scott 3.