The Raven defense held the Panthers in check for much of the first half on Friday, but Hillcrest couldn’t generate enough offense to keep up with No. 9 Pekin in a 48-30 loss on Friday. 

The Hillcrest zone was effective early in the game and the Ravens took a 9-5 lead on an Eli Ours’ 3-pointer with 35 seconds left in the first quarter.

That lead disappeared over a span of 37 seconds as Pekin opened the second quarter with back-to-back 3-point makes. 

Noah Miller would give the Ravens the lead again at 15-13 with 3:52 left in the half, but Pekin hit another pair from behind the arc during a 7-0 run to close the half. 

“I thought our zone was effective,” Hillcrest coach Dwight Gingerich said. “They adjusted and went to a little bit different alignment and we didn’t rotate out and they got four threes late in the quarter and that kind of gave them some momentum going into halftime and then that was unfortunate.”

John Hughes came up with a basket to cut the lead to 23-19 with 5:38 left in the third quarter, but Pekin answered with a 12-3 run and led by at least nine the rest of the way. 

The Ravens were much better around the basket in the second meeting, shooting 50 percent on 2-point shots after going 3-22 in a 61-33 loss on December 18. But Friday was a cold night for Hillcrest from beyond the arc at 2-12. Unfortunately for the Ravens, ball control was a problem again as Pekin took advantage of the 16 turnovers. 

“We were a little careless offensively and that’s something that we talked about,” Gingerich said. “You might remember from last time we played them, we gave them the ball and they’ll go the other end and score, and that happened to where they separated from us.”

The final score did not reflect the competitive nature of the game, as Pekin made five free throws during a 7-0 run over the final 4:30 to cement the win. 

Hughes finished with seven points, Miller scored four and Grant Bender had three. Aiden Krabill led the Ravens with five rebounds. 

Ours scored the first 11 points of the game for Hillcrest and finished with 16 points and two assists.

“Eli is just playing like the all-conference player he is,” Gingerich said. “He’s been really solid and he gave it all he had tonight. They came after him pretty good and in spite of that he still had a pretty good night. He maintained his poise through it all.”

After playing four games in eight days, the Ravens had a six-day break heading into Friday’s game. 

“After having played so many games over a short stretch, it’s been a little different week for us,” Gingerich said. 

“I thought it looked like we hadn’t played for a week. We weren’t quite as together on our traps. But again, a lot of that is Pekin. They’re a good team, obviously. Top of the league and probably in a position where they’ll be playing for state tournament berth.”

The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for Hillcrest (10-6) while Pekin (16-1) extended its streak to 14 games.