Indians upend Lions
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
There were 45 fouls called combined on both teams, but it was the Hillsboro Indians who were able to use the "Defense Dictates" motto written on the front of their warm-up T-shirts to overcome fouls and force turnovers to defeat the Fairfield Lions, 48-37.
The Tuesday night win by the host Indians gives them bragging rights for a year, thanks to the Indians' pressure throughout the game that forced 17 turnovers and helped lead to the Lions' foul troubles.
Each team had 20-plus fouls, as the Lions (2-3) suffered their third consecutive loss.
"This was a battle of wills," HHS head coach Brett Prince said. "Were they going to be able to build a tempo and make us play fast, or were we going to create the tempo and make them play the half-court game?
"We'll play fast on offense, but we don't want to run up and down on the defensive end. We slowed them down and made them throw the ball back-and-forth, and our kids really worked hard in the post."
The Indians (2-1) led the game after the first frame by a 13-11 score, having six players contribute to the scoring in the opening eight minutes in front of a very loud crowd at Hillsboro High School.
Three of those opening 13 points came off a 3-pointer by Trey Moberly within a minute of the game to give HHS their first lead of the game at 3-2.
Price said the Hillsboro student section was a big part of this win, as they generated a very loud atmosphere for the rivalry game.
"Our student section was huge for us," Prince said. "They were a huge factor in this game with the noise they created and huge in how we played. We need that every game to feed off of."
As for the rest of the first, with 3:59 on the clock, Blake Hildebrant sank a 3-pointer to get to within two points of tying the score at 9-7, but HHS answered with consecutive baskets by Zach Young and Austin Bagshaw to move ahead by six points with 1:13 left in the quarter.
Young and Bagshaw led the Indians in scoring with Young totaling a game-high 14 points and Bagshaw scoring 13.
The first ended with a free throw by Wilson and a shot at the buzzer by Hildebrant to make it a two-point game.
Wilson and Hildebrant led the Lions with 12 points each, as Wilson added nine rebounds. Gage Montgomery also collected nine rebounds for the Lions, while adding six points.
"We couldn't get in sync, we had foul trouble, missed free-throws and had missed layups," FHS head coach Everett Snyder said.
The Lions shot 35-percent from the free-throw line at 13-of-23.
"Hillsboro had their game plan, which was to slow us down," Snyder said. "We are an up-tempo type team, and their game plan worked perfectly … slow it down, be patient on both offense and defense, and we couldn't get anything established."
Foul trouble was key the the Indians controlling the next to quarters, forcing the Lions to sit some starters who had multiple fouls before halftime.
"What I thought helped us was early they got a couple blocks and those blocks got the crowd all fired up, and I told our kids those guys like to block shots," Prince said. "We got into the paint, got a couple shot fakes and after getting blocked early, those shot fakes started getting us foul calls, so it worked for them early but later worked against them.
"We knew getting to the line would be key."
The Indians made the most of getting to the free-throw line, going 21-of-28 or shooting 75 percent from the line.
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HHS took a five-point lead to halftime with a 25-20 advantage. In the second quarter, there were a total of 16 free throws attempted by the two teams combined.
In the second, FHS did tie the score at 16 with two free throws by Dustin Willey (six rebounds) and regained the lead with 5:45 on the clock with a free throw from Wilson.
HHS ended the second frame with a run of 9-0 from the 5:23 mark until the 1:37 mark of the quarter, capping off with a 3-pointer from Young.
Defense was the Indians' key in the third with both teams combining for 11 points, including 3-pointers from Bagshaw and Young for HHS.
In the fourth, both teams broke loose a little more on offense, speeding up the game, but HHS was able to convert free throws into points, taking the quarter by three points at 16-13.
The fourth saw HHS go 13-of-17 from the stripe, while FHS was 5-of-10. In the fourth for HHS, Logan Lesley was 5-of-6 from the line, as was Bagshaw. Also sinking free-throw attempts were Young and Jordan Captain.
"Towards the end, we shot well from the line," Prince said. "This was the third game in a row where we've shot 20-plus free throws, and making those shots is one thing we have to do to win games."
The game was eventually sealed with a 3-pointer by Bagshaw at the 1:09 mark, putting HHS ahead by seven points. Later, he followed that with four consecutive free throws after the Lions were forced to foul.
"That three was huge, but as I told him, it was a 'you better make it shot,'" Prince said. "At the time, it wasn't a good shot, but when it went in, it was an amazing shot. It was a tide turner.
"At that point, no one really had the momentum, and when he made it, that was it. They had to start fouling."
Prince followed by saying this was the best game played by his team this season.
"It's the best we've played, but I still think we have to shoot better," he said. "We struggled shooting from the floor, but intensity-wise, defensive effort and even offensive execution, this was the best we've played."
HHS will play again on Friday, Dec. 13 when they travel for a South Central Ohio League game against the Chillicothe Cavaliers.
The Lions play a makeup game tomorrow at home against the Manchester Greyhounds and again on Friday at West Union.
The Tuesday night win by the host Indians gives them bragging rights for a year, thanks to the Indians' pressure throughout the game that forced 17 turnovers and helped lead to the Lions' foul troubles.
Each team had 20-plus fouls, as the Lions (2-3) suffered their third consecutive loss.
"This was a battle of wills," HHS head coach Brett Prince said. "Were they going to be able to build a tempo and make us play fast, or were we going to create the tempo and make them play the half-court game?
"We'll play fast on offense, but we don't want to run up and down on the defensive end. We slowed them down and made them throw the ball back-and-forth, and our kids really worked hard in the post."
The Indians (2-1) led the game after the first frame by a 13-11 score, having six players contribute to the scoring in the opening eight minutes in front of a very loud crowd at Hillsboro High School.
Three of those opening 13 points came off a 3-pointer by Trey Moberly within a minute of the game to give HHS their first lead of the game at 3-2.
Price said the Hillsboro student section was a big part of this win, as they generated a very loud atmosphere for the rivalry game.
"Our student section was huge for us," Prince said. "They were a huge factor in this game with the noise they created and huge in how we played. We need that every game to feed off of."
As for the rest of the first, with 3:59 on the clock, Blake Hildebrant sank a 3-pointer to get to within two points of tying the score at 9-7, but HHS answered with consecutive baskets by Zach Young and Austin Bagshaw to move ahead by six points with 1:13 left in the quarter.
Young and Bagshaw led the Indians in scoring with Young totaling a game-high 14 points and Bagshaw scoring 13.
The first ended with a free throw by Wilson and a shot at the buzzer by Hildebrant to make it a two-point game.
Wilson and Hildebrant led the Lions with 12 points each, as Wilson added nine rebounds. Gage Montgomery also collected nine rebounds for the Lions, while adding six points.
"We couldn't get in sync, we had foul trouble, missed free-throws and had missed layups," FHS head coach Everett Snyder said.
The Lions shot 35-percent from the free-throw line at 13-of-23.
"Hillsboro had their game plan, which was to slow us down," Snyder said. "We are an up-tempo type team, and their game plan worked perfectly … slow it down, be patient on both offense and defense, and we couldn't get anything established."
Foul trouble was key the the Indians controlling the next to quarters, forcing the Lions to sit some starters who had multiple fouls before halftime.
"What I thought helped us was early they got a couple blocks and those blocks got the crowd all fired up, and I told our kids those guys like to block shots," Prince said. "We got into the paint, got a couple shot fakes and after getting blocked early, those shot fakes started getting us foul calls, so it worked for them early but later worked against them.
"We knew getting to the line would be key."
The Indians made the most of getting to the free-throw line, going 21-of-28 or shooting 75 percent from the line.
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HHS took a five-point lead to halftime with a 25-20 advantage. In the second quarter, there were a total of 16 free throws attempted by the two teams combined.
In the second, FHS did tie the score at 16 with two free throws by Dustin Willey (six rebounds) and regained the lead with 5:45 on the clock with a free throw from Wilson.
HHS ended the second frame with a run of 9-0 from the 5:23 mark until the 1:37 mark of the quarter, capping off with a 3-pointer from Young.
Defense was the Indians' key in the third with both teams combining for 11 points, including 3-pointers from Bagshaw and Young for HHS.
In the fourth, both teams broke loose a little more on offense, speeding up the game, but HHS was able to convert free throws into points, taking the quarter by three points at 16-13.
The fourth saw HHS go 13-of-17 from the stripe, while FHS was 5-of-10. In the fourth for HHS, Logan Lesley was 5-of-6 from the line, as was Bagshaw. Also sinking free-throw attempts were Young and Jordan Captain.
"Towards the end, we shot well from the line," Prince said. "This was the third game in a row where we've shot 20-plus free throws, and making those shots is one thing we have to do to win games."
The game was eventually sealed with a 3-pointer by Bagshaw at the 1:09 mark, putting HHS ahead by seven points. Later, he followed that with four consecutive free throws after the Lions were forced to foul.
"That three was huge, but as I told him, it was a 'you better make it shot,'" Prince said. "At the time, it wasn't a good shot, but when it went in, it was an amazing shot. It was a tide turner.
"At that point, no one really had the momentum, and when he made it, that was it. They had to start fouling."
Prince followed by saying this was the best game played by his team this season.
"It's the best we've played, but I still think we have to shoot better," he said. "We struggled shooting from the floor, but intensity-wise, defensive effort and even offensive execution, this was the best we've played."
HHS will play again on Friday, Dec. 13 when they travel for a South Central Ohio League game against the Chillicothe Cavaliers.
The Lions play a makeup game tomorrow at home against the Manchester Greyhounds and again on Friday at West Union.