Ravens hold off Wapello for first win

Bender leads Hillcrest with 25 points, five blocks

By Jeff Yoder
Posted 12/4/21

Playing in front of a home crowd for the first time this season, the Hillcrest Ravens got into an offensive flow in the first half. 

But over the next ten minutes, a 15-point halftime lead …

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Ravens hold off Wapello for first win

Bender leads Hillcrest with 25 points, five blocks

Posted

Playing in front of a home crowd for the first time this season, the Hillcrest Ravens got into an offensive flow in the first half. 

But over the next ten minutes, a 15-point halftime lead over Wapello dwindled to just two. 

Desperately needing a bucket, Luke Schrock’s offensive rebound gave Grant Bender a second chance at the basket.

Slicing through the lane, Bender caught a pass from Seth Ours and put it off the backboard to give Hillcrest a 45-41 lead. 

The Ravens scored their last six points from the free throw line and held on for the 51-43 win, the first of the season for Hillcrest.

Bender led the Ravens with 25 points, six rebounds, and five blocked shots in the victory. 

Hillcrest coach Dwight Gingerich said that the Ravens played much better down the stretch than they did in a season-opening loss at Mediapolis. 

“Well, you look at what Grant did tonight, he did a much better job in just finishing going to the rim,” Gingerich said. “He was active and I think we did a little bit better job of getting movement to get him in spots where he could get the ball. 

"Aiden Krabill drew a couple big charges at key times tonight. Aiden just does some cerebral things for us that maybe aren't going to show up in the box score but he was complementary with his rebounding and awareness out there.”

It was a quality win for Hillcrest over the Indians, who went 12-1 in conference play last year and returned conference player of the year Maddox Griffin.

Bender scored the first points of the second quarter with a layup on a great inbounds pass from Noah Miller, who had a team-high six assists. 

Bender had 14 of the Ravens’ first 19 points, and equalled his previous career high of 18 in the third quarter. 

“I was just looking to score,” Bender said. “I wanted to be really aggressive and then I was just making shots. I had some trouble with that last game, but today, I just put them in I guess.”

Wapello cut the lead to 19-18 in the second quarter before Bender’s cousin, freshman Seth Ours, canned his first career 3-pointer in Hillcrest Union. Jace Rempel also hit a 3-pointer and Ours buried two more as the Ravens finished the half on a 14-0 run. 

“We play knockout at home and I’ve seen him do stuff like that, he wins a lot,” Bender said. “It was fun to see him light up when he made those shots.”

Ours made all three of his 3-point attempts on Friday, and is 4-of-6 for the season. He also had three assists in the Raven win. 

Miller was 5-of-6 from the free throw line on Friday and hit three key free throws down the stretch to extend the lead to 48-41. The senior point guard also gave a pre-game talk to his team about being encouraging during the season and lifting your teammates up. 

“Great leadership on his part,” Gingerich said, “And you know, that fourth quarter is a great example of how even after we played really well, there’s going to be obstacles and tough stretches. There are going to be games that we don’t win, but if we can just maintain that forward mindfulness, try to grow, stay together, and encourage — the journey is going to be a fun one.”