Hillsboro advances to sectional finals; defeats MT Panthers
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
CHILLICOTHE — For the second straight year, the Hillsboro Indians are advancing in the Division II SE District Tournament by gaining a win in the Sectional Semifinals. On Tuesday night, the No. 8 seeded Indians defeated the No. 9 seeded Miami Trace Panthers, 49-38 to move on to the next round of the postseason.
Hillsboro forced the Miami Trace squad into 23 turnovers in the semifinal game, including 12 turnovers in the first half, while the Indians had just seven turnovers for the entire game.
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In fact, the Indians offense was strong too, with three players finishing in double figures, including seniors Mason Swayne and Ethan Watson each with 13 points and sophomore Ryan Scott with 11 points. The rest of the Indians’ scoring included eight points from junior Gavin Temple and senior Reece Bloomfield finished with four points.
Even with the offense with the three double-figure scorers, the head coach of the Indians, Bruce Miles, credited the defensive pressure by the Tribe for the top reason for gaining the victory.
“I absolutely thought that the difference in the game for us was our pressure. We did a great job in the full court of turning Miami Trace over,” Miles said following the game. “Credit to our guys, we had a game plan all week that we worked on, and we came out and executed defensively. We got off to a slow start offensively. I thought we took some poor shots and weren’t very patient in the half court, but we turned our defense into offense.”
Miles then spoke about the balanced scoring by the Indians as they led at the end of each quarter played.
“We’re always better when we have balanced scoring, no doubt. I thought Ethan did a good job of staying patient. We knew they were going to try to take him out of the game. Mason Swayne got to the basket tonight and finished at the basket. I was really impressed with him,” Miles said. “Ryan Scott, not only the 11 points he had, but I think he took five or six charges. He’s such a tough kid and he’s willing to stick his nose in there and sacrifice for this team.
“That’s why he’s (Scott) such a valuable member of our program. He understands what this game is all about, and I’m really impressed with Ryan.”
This was also the third time the Indians have defeated the Panthers this season. The other two games saw the Indians win at home by a 42-38 score and at MTHS by a 59-47 score.
The first quarter between the Indians and the Panthers was played closely with the Panthers striking first with the first two points of the game, only to see them add to their lead with a 3-pointer from Austin Mathews for a 5-0 advantage. The Indians finally answered with two made free throws by Scott, followed by a jumper by Watson and two more points by Watson to push the Indians ahead, 6-5 with 3:38 left in the opening quarter.
MT came back with a big 3-pointer by Trevor Barker, but Hillsboro’s Swayne was there to equal that bucket with a 3-pointer of his own around the 3:00 mark for a 9-8 Hillsboro advantage.
MT came back, this time with two points by Dylan Bernard, but HHS had other plans with back-to-back baskets from Temple and Swayne, as Temple sank a 3-pointer with 1:31 on the clock, followed by a steal and two points by Swayne. Temple ended the first with another 3-pointer by the Indians, giving the Indians a 17-10 lead, as HHS ended the first frame with an 8-0 run.
The Indians weren’t done adding to their consecutive scoring streak, with Watson opening the second with a two-point basket, followed by a bucket in the paint from Scott, increasing the Indians’ advantage to 21-10.
HHS continued to add to their lead with a basket by Scott, while Temple joined back in the scoring with another two-point basket with 4:30 on the second-quarter clock for a 25-10 Hillsboro lead, as that ended the Indians’ scoring streak on an 16-0 run, including them scoring the first eight points of the second quarter.
MT (3-20) broke the scoring run with a 3-pointer from Bernard with 2:47 on the clock, only to see the Indians score a 3-pointer with 2:29 remaining in the first half, with Scott getting back into the scoring with a trifecta, giving the Tribe a 28-13 advantage.
The Panthers followed with two made free throws by Brown for a 28-15 deficit with just over 2:00 on the scoreboard. MT came back with more free throws, as Brown added another free-throw conversion, while Barker made two in a row, cutting down the Indians’ lead to 10 points with around 1:40 left in the second frame at 28-18 as that was the score at halftime.
The second half included the Indians outscoring the Panthers, 12-9 in the third quarter and then HHS adding nine points in the fourth frame. MT scored 11 points in the fourth quarter.
Hillsboro in the third had six points from Swayne, including a 3-pointer to start the quarter, which at the time increased the Indians’ lead to 31-18. Other third-quarter scoring for HHS included three points by Watson and two points from Scott. Hillsboro’s nine points in the fourth saw Bloomfield make two extremely strong baskets, while Watson added three points and Swayne scored two points.
The Panthers were led by Barker with 12 points, followed by Brown with 10 points. Also adding points for the Panthers was Bernard with five points, Mathews with three points and with two points each were Braden Osborne, Kyler Conn, Logan Rodgers and Bo Little.
For the game, MTHS finished with nine two-point baskets, four 3-pointers and they were 8-of-10 from the free-throw line. The Indians were 6-of-7 from the free-throw line, while also adding 14 two-point baskets and five 3-pointers.
Next for Hillsboro is a sectional final game on Saturday, Feb. 23 against No. 1 seeded Zane Trace Pioneers at 7 p.m. in a game that will be played at Southeastern High School.
Coach Miles spoke about the team reaching the sectional final game.
“One of our goals was to make it to the Convo this year. We put ourselves in the position to win one game against a very talented team. We know that. It’ll be a challenge for us, but these guys are really excited about that opportunity on Saturday night to beat one of the best teams in southern Ohio,” Miles said. “We have to execute our game plan and really take care of the basketball. They’ve (ZTHS) got size, they’ve got guards that can score.
“We know what’s ahead of us. We have to have three really good days of practice preparing for their pressure and come out and play a good game of basketball.”
Hillsboro’s last sectional championship was in 2009, as HHS has 11 sectional titles in boys basketball.
Hillsboro forced the Miami Trace squad into 23 turnovers in the semifinal game, including 12 turnovers in the first half, while the Indians had just seven turnovers for the entire game.
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In fact, the Indians offense was strong too, with three players finishing in double figures, including seniors Mason Swayne and Ethan Watson each with 13 points and sophomore Ryan Scott with 11 points. The rest of the Indians’ scoring included eight points from junior Gavin Temple and senior Reece Bloomfield finished with four points.
Even with the offense with the three double-figure scorers, the head coach of the Indians, Bruce Miles, credited the defensive pressure by the Tribe for the top reason for gaining the victory.
“I absolutely thought that the difference in the game for us was our pressure. We did a great job in the full court of turning Miami Trace over,” Miles said following the game. “Credit to our guys, we had a game plan all week that we worked on, and we came out and executed defensively. We got off to a slow start offensively. I thought we took some poor shots and weren’t very patient in the half court, but we turned our defense into offense.”
Miles then spoke about the balanced scoring by the Indians as they led at the end of each quarter played.
“We’re always better when we have balanced scoring, no doubt. I thought Ethan did a good job of staying patient. We knew they were going to try to take him out of the game. Mason Swayne got to the basket tonight and finished at the basket. I was really impressed with him,” Miles said. “Ryan Scott, not only the 11 points he had, but I think he took five or six charges. He’s such a tough kid and he’s willing to stick his nose in there and sacrifice for this team.
“That’s why he’s (Scott) such a valuable member of our program. He understands what this game is all about, and I’m really impressed with Ryan.”
This was also the third time the Indians have defeated the Panthers this season. The other two games saw the Indians win at home by a 42-38 score and at MTHS by a 59-47 score.
The first quarter between the Indians and the Panthers was played closely with the Panthers striking first with the first two points of the game, only to see them add to their lead with a 3-pointer from Austin Mathews for a 5-0 advantage. The Indians finally answered with two made free throws by Scott, followed by a jumper by Watson and two more points by Watson to push the Indians ahead, 6-5 with 3:38 left in the opening quarter.
MT came back with a big 3-pointer by Trevor Barker, but Hillsboro’s Swayne was there to equal that bucket with a 3-pointer of his own around the 3:00 mark for a 9-8 Hillsboro advantage.
MT came back, this time with two points by Dylan Bernard, but HHS had other plans with back-to-back baskets from Temple and Swayne, as Temple sank a 3-pointer with 1:31 on the clock, followed by a steal and two points by Swayne. Temple ended the first with another 3-pointer by the Indians, giving the Indians a 17-10 lead, as HHS ended the first frame with an 8-0 run.
The Indians weren’t done adding to their consecutive scoring streak, with Watson opening the second with a two-point basket, followed by a bucket in the paint from Scott, increasing the Indians’ advantage to 21-10.
HHS continued to add to their lead with a basket by Scott, while Temple joined back in the scoring with another two-point basket with 4:30 on the second-quarter clock for a 25-10 Hillsboro lead, as that ended the Indians’ scoring streak on an 16-0 run, including them scoring the first eight points of the second quarter.
MT (3-20) broke the scoring run with a 3-pointer from Bernard with 2:47 on the clock, only to see the Indians score a 3-pointer with 2:29 remaining in the first half, with Scott getting back into the scoring with a trifecta, giving the Tribe a 28-13 advantage.
The Panthers followed with two made free throws by Brown for a 28-15 deficit with just over 2:00 on the scoreboard. MT came back with more free throws, as Brown added another free-throw conversion, while Barker made two in a row, cutting down the Indians’ lead to 10 points with around 1:40 left in the second frame at 28-18 as that was the score at halftime.
The second half included the Indians outscoring the Panthers, 12-9 in the third quarter and then HHS adding nine points in the fourth frame. MT scored 11 points in the fourth quarter.
Hillsboro in the third had six points from Swayne, including a 3-pointer to start the quarter, which at the time increased the Indians’ lead to 31-18. Other third-quarter scoring for HHS included three points by Watson and two points from Scott. Hillsboro’s nine points in the fourth saw Bloomfield make two extremely strong baskets, while Watson added three points and Swayne scored two points.
The Panthers were led by Barker with 12 points, followed by Brown with 10 points. Also adding points for the Panthers was Bernard with five points, Mathews with three points and with two points each were Braden Osborne, Kyler Conn, Logan Rodgers and Bo Little.
For the game, MTHS finished with nine two-point baskets, four 3-pointers and they were 8-of-10 from the free-throw line. The Indians were 6-of-7 from the free-throw line, while also adding 14 two-point baskets and five 3-pointers.
Next for Hillsboro is a sectional final game on Saturday, Feb. 23 against No. 1 seeded Zane Trace Pioneers at 7 p.m. in a game that will be played at Southeastern High School.
Coach Miles spoke about the team reaching the sectional final game.
“One of our goals was to make it to the Convo this year. We put ourselves in the position to win one game against a very talented team. We know that. It’ll be a challenge for us, but these guys are really excited about that opportunity on Saturday night to beat one of the best teams in southern Ohio,” Miles said. “We have to execute our game plan and really take care of the basketball. They’ve (ZTHS) got size, they’ve got guards that can score.
“We know what’s ahead of us. We have to have three really good days of practice preparing for their pressure and come out and play a good game of basketball.”
Hillsboro’s last sectional championship was in 2009, as HHS has 11 sectional titles in boys basketball.