Hillsboro Indians take Round 2; dominate rival Tigers
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
HILLSBORO — The second time around this season in the storied rivalry between the Hillsboro Indians and the McClain Tigers, it was the host Indians who handed out the dominant effort in front of their home fans on Saturday night, winning in convincing fashion by a 71-38 score.
The Frontier Athletic Conference win for the Indians moves them to 3-7 within the conference standings and 8-12 overall, while the Tigers fall to 6-13 this season and 3-6 in the FAC. Earlier this season McClain won by a 46-44 score at their home court against the Indians, but this time around the Hillsboro squad returned the favor.
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Early on, McClain scored the very first points of the game with a basket by Lyle White, but 25 seconds later on the game clock, everything began to shift in favor of the Indians, beginning with a basket by Hunter Price that tied the score. It was Price again who put the Tribe in front at 5-2 with a 3-pointer at the 3:33 mark for a 5-2 lead.
In all, the Indians scored 15 unanswered points in the first frame to take a 15-2 lead when the opening eight minutes ticked off the clock in front of a passionate crowd with both Hillsboro and McClain fans.
“We haven’t talked about it publicly, but this is one that we have had circled,” Hillsboro head coach Miles Burton said. “I’m super proud of our guys from top-to-bottom. We’ve been streaky all season on offense, and part of that is because we’ve been sprinkling in a new system and playing three games a week, so a lot of that is on me.
“We are finally starting to piece it all together, at least the frame of what we want it to look like. Again, tonight I’m super proud of our guys. Ryan Scott usually scores a lot but tonight he had a distributing role, and scored, but I haven’t seen him be a playmaker like that … I see it in practice all the time, but I hadn’t see him play-make like that in a game all year. I know I keep saying it over and over again, but this was a big team win.”
Following the points by Price, Quintin Captain sank a 3-pointer at the 2:38 mark, and then for good measure Captain made another shot from downtown with the 3-pointer moving the Indians’ lead to 11-2. The scoring for HHS wasn’t finished yet with a free throw made by Ryan Scott, and he also ended the first frame with a 3-pointer at the buzzer, bringing his teammates to their feet for the 13-point lead at the end of the first quarter.
The second frame went opposite directions for the two Highland County rivals with Hillsboro doubling up the Tigers at 16-8, for a 31-10 halftime lead. HHS led by as many as 23 points in the second quarter, as their 16 points in the second included two 3-pointers from Jakwon Clark with one at the start of the quarter, and the other trey near the end of the frame.
“This was Hillsboro’s night,” McClain head coach Joe B. Stewart said. “First of all, we played our guts out last night, but 58-53, we had a hard game at Miami Trace, and our kids fought hard tooth and nail for it, one that we had prepared for. We thought we had a shot at Trace, and we did. We got home at 10:30, and now all of a sudden we are playing catchup with Hillsboro’s scouting report with a group of guys that played hard and played well.
“They rested and we played Miami Trace, and as (Rick) Pitino said, ‘Fatigue makes cowards of us all,’ and I don’t believe we were cowardly, but we certainly didn’t have our legs. On the other hand, to dismiss our kids, and not take note that Hillsboro was on top of their game tonight, that would be a mistake.”
Clark led the Indians with 18 points with two two-point baskets, three 3-pointers and he was 5-of-6 from the free-throw line).
HHS also had four points by Captain in the second and two points each by Ryan Scott, Silas Simmons and Brad Miller. McClain in the second had four points from Camden Closson and two points each by White and Dakota Pollock.
Scott finished with 13 points, and Captain totaled 12 points.
Hillsboro extended their lead to 30 points once the third quarter came to a close. The Tigers were the ones opening the frame with a big 3-pointer from Preston Saunders, but Scott came back for the Indians with two tough points scored underneath the bucket with heavy pressure against him.
Braden Wright came back with two free throws for MHS, and the Indians answered with a layup from Scott, a free throw by Clark, and the most exciting basket of the game where Scott, from behind the three-point line, lobbed the ball to Clark for an ally-oop dunk at the 4:15 mark of the quarter for a 38-15 lead.
Saunders came right back with two points scored easily, but Clark stayed hot with a 3-pointer, then two converted free throws, plus two points off a layup with 3:33 left in the third for a 45-17 lead.
The Indians added to what eventually ended at a 9-0 run with two points by Price. Matt Bliss stopped the scoring of HHS with a basket of his own in the paint with 1:41 left in the quarter. HHS ended the third with four points by Caleb Crawford as the score turned into a 51-21 lead.
HHS won the fourth quarter at 20-17 for the 33-point win, with HHS having scoring from Ethan Parry, Captain, Scott, Coltin Hunter, Clark, Price, Crawford and a 3-pointer from Nick Lewis.
McClain’s fourth-frame scoring came off baskets by Saunders (a 3-pointer), White, Bliss, Closson and Pollock. McClain’s leading scorer Bryson Badgley was held scoreless by the Indians in the game.
“We had back-to-back quality road games, and we aren’t the most physical team, we are a finesse team that takes a certain equation for us to play well,” Stewart said. “Playing back-to-back against teams with real physical specimens on the inside we have trouble matching up with, it’s one where our spirit has frankly has to overcome our bodies, but I don’t think our bodies allowed us to do that. Give Hillsboro credit, they played well and our kids played hard.
“You are going to have one of these, and our kids fought hard, but we just didn’t have it tonight, and lot of that is Hillsboro. This is our fourth game this week, all on the road, and it is going to bite you sometime and today it bit us. What you can learn is, my mentor Dick Bennett says, ‘If you have a group of guys that can take a real whipping and bounce back better because of it, now you have something special.’ We think we have special character in the locker room, and we have one senior and he’s a great leader for us. A lot of these guys are going through the wars for the first time, and this is one for experience and this is one that we definitely need to learn from, and I think we will."
For the game, the Tigers were led in scoring by Closson with 10 points, while teammates Saunders and White each scored eight points.
The Frontier Athletic Conference win for the Indians moves them to 3-7 within the conference standings and 8-12 overall, while the Tigers fall to 6-13 this season and 3-6 in the FAC. Earlier this season McClain won by a 46-44 score at their home court against the Indians, but this time around the Hillsboro squad returned the favor.
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Early on, McClain scored the very first points of the game with a basket by Lyle White, but 25 seconds later on the game clock, everything began to shift in favor of the Indians, beginning with a basket by Hunter Price that tied the score. It was Price again who put the Tribe in front at 5-2 with a 3-pointer at the 3:33 mark for a 5-2 lead.
In all, the Indians scored 15 unanswered points in the first frame to take a 15-2 lead when the opening eight minutes ticked off the clock in front of a passionate crowd with both Hillsboro and McClain fans.
“We haven’t talked about it publicly, but this is one that we have had circled,” Hillsboro head coach Miles Burton said. “I’m super proud of our guys from top-to-bottom. We’ve been streaky all season on offense, and part of that is because we’ve been sprinkling in a new system and playing three games a week, so a lot of that is on me.
“We are finally starting to piece it all together, at least the frame of what we want it to look like. Again, tonight I’m super proud of our guys. Ryan Scott usually scores a lot but tonight he had a distributing role, and scored, but I haven’t seen him be a playmaker like that … I see it in practice all the time, but I hadn’t see him play-make like that in a game all year. I know I keep saying it over and over again, but this was a big team win.”
Following the points by Price, Quintin Captain sank a 3-pointer at the 2:38 mark, and then for good measure Captain made another shot from downtown with the 3-pointer moving the Indians’ lead to 11-2. The scoring for HHS wasn’t finished yet with a free throw made by Ryan Scott, and he also ended the first frame with a 3-pointer at the buzzer, bringing his teammates to their feet for the 13-point lead at the end of the first quarter.
The second frame went opposite directions for the two Highland County rivals with Hillsboro doubling up the Tigers at 16-8, for a 31-10 halftime lead. HHS led by as many as 23 points in the second quarter, as their 16 points in the second included two 3-pointers from Jakwon Clark with one at the start of the quarter, and the other trey near the end of the frame.
“This was Hillsboro’s night,” McClain head coach Joe B. Stewart said. “First of all, we played our guts out last night, but 58-53, we had a hard game at Miami Trace, and our kids fought hard tooth and nail for it, one that we had prepared for. We thought we had a shot at Trace, and we did. We got home at 10:30, and now all of a sudden we are playing catchup with Hillsboro’s scouting report with a group of guys that played hard and played well.
“They rested and we played Miami Trace, and as (Rick) Pitino said, ‘Fatigue makes cowards of us all,’ and I don’t believe we were cowardly, but we certainly didn’t have our legs. On the other hand, to dismiss our kids, and not take note that Hillsboro was on top of their game tonight, that would be a mistake.”
Clark led the Indians with 18 points with two two-point baskets, three 3-pointers and he was 5-of-6 from the free-throw line).
HHS also had four points by Captain in the second and two points each by Ryan Scott, Silas Simmons and Brad Miller. McClain in the second had four points from Camden Closson and two points each by White and Dakota Pollock.
Scott finished with 13 points, and Captain totaled 12 points.
Hillsboro extended their lead to 30 points once the third quarter came to a close. The Tigers were the ones opening the frame with a big 3-pointer from Preston Saunders, but Scott came back for the Indians with two tough points scored underneath the bucket with heavy pressure against him.
Braden Wright came back with two free throws for MHS, and the Indians answered with a layup from Scott, a free throw by Clark, and the most exciting basket of the game where Scott, from behind the three-point line, lobbed the ball to Clark for an ally-oop dunk at the 4:15 mark of the quarter for a 38-15 lead.
Saunders came right back with two points scored easily, but Clark stayed hot with a 3-pointer, then two converted free throws, plus two points off a layup with 3:33 left in the third for a 45-17 lead.
The Indians added to what eventually ended at a 9-0 run with two points by Price. Matt Bliss stopped the scoring of HHS with a basket of his own in the paint with 1:41 left in the quarter. HHS ended the third with four points by Caleb Crawford as the score turned into a 51-21 lead.
HHS won the fourth quarter at 20-17 for the 33-point win, with HHS having scoring from Ethan Parry, Captain, Scott, Coltin Hunter, Clark, Price, Crawford and a 3-pointer from Nick Lewis.
McClain’s fourth-frame scoring came off baskets by Saunders (a 3-pointer), White, Bliss, Closson and Pollock. McClain’s leading scorer Bryson Badgley was held scoreless by the Indians in the game.
“We had back-to-back quality road games, and we aren’t the most physical team, we are a finesse team that takes a certain equation for us to play well,” Stewart said. “Playing back-to-back against teams with real physical specimens on the inside we have trouble matching up with, it’s one where our spirit has frankly has to overcome our bodies, but I don’t think our bodies allowed us to do that. Give Hillsboro credit, they played well and our kids played hard.
“You are going to have one of these, and our kids fought hard, but we just didn’t have it tonight, and lot of that is Hillsboro. This is our fourth game this week, all on the road, and it is going to bite you sometime and today it bit us. What you can learn is, my mentor Dick Bennett says, ‘If you have a group of guys that can take a real whipping and bounce back better because of it, now you have something special.’ We think we have special character in the locker room, and we have one senior and he’s a great leader for us. A lot of these guys are going through the wars for the first time, and this is one for experience and this is one that we definitely need to learn from, and I think we will."
For the game, the Tigers were led in scoring by Closson with 10 points, while teammates Saunders and White each scored eight points.