Indians rally late to top rival McClain

GREENFIELD — Having just over two minutes left in regulation, on the road, against their Highland County rival and in a deafening atmosphere, the Hillsboro Indians had a lot of work ahead of them if they wanted to leave Greenfield with a win.

Even with a lot of different variables occurring all at the same moment, the visiting Indians battled back by outscoring the McClain Tigers, 10-2 in the final 2:06 of the South Central Oho League game Friday night, sending the Indians to a 54-53 victory.

The Indians trailed by a single point with 1:12 left on the clock following a three-point play by Phillip Mycroft, as he made the basket in the paint, followed by converting a free throw under immense pressure.

Next, McClain, while passing the ball, lost control of the ball, throwing it out of bounds with 50.2 seconds remaining, allowing the Indians to gain another chance at taking the lead against their county foe.

HHS nearly lost possession of the ball themselves, but a timeout was called as the Indians had possession of the ball while in the air, before landing on the out of play line with 23.6 left in regulation as they trailed by a single point.

Then came the final basket of the game – and it was the biggest basket of the night – as D.J. Brown scored a basket in the paint, on a second attempt for two points and the lead with 7.5 on the scoreboard at McClain Gym, as the host quickly called a timeout.

The Indians gained possession of the ball and were headed to the lane, as they called a final timeout with 2.1 left in the fourth. The Tigers failed to convert their final shot attempt into points, as the Indians were able to rally for the victory.

Brown led the Indians with 18 points, with no two points more important than the 17th and 18th points he scored in the rivalry game.

“I can’t say enough about how we played at the end against their 1-3-1,” Hillsboro head coach Bruce Miles said following the game. “We had a set that we liked, and we were holding in our back pocket and we executed it. We didn’t execute it the first time, but he got it the second time. What a game … what a game.

“A lot of credit to our kids for battling back at the end … to be able to claw and fight for a win tonight was good to see.”

Earlier this week, the Tigers lost another rivalry game by the same 54-53 score, with that final basket that sent them to a loss coming with 8.5 seconds left on the clock.

McClain head coach Jesse Mitchell spoke about how the Tigers have played two tough games this week and how they can learn from these experiences.

“With the gym being packed, having these types of experiences is good for our team in a way,” he said. “We try to learn from every loss. We had time to score at the end, and we work on those things, but when it comes to these types of games, we have to finish.”

With the intensity shown in the final minutes of the game, the previous three quarters of the game were just as intense and physical, with both schools putting on a show for the standing-room-only McClain Gym.

For the Tigers (2-5, 3-8), they were the leaders after the first eight minutes of competition, taking hold of a 19-14 lead after the opening frame. Though the quarter was tied twice at 2-2 and 14-14, then Tigers trailed 14-8 with 2:25 left in the first frame.

After two points by Brown put the Tigers behind by six points, the fans, cheerleaders and newly minted mascot “Eddie the Tiger” all rallied behind the hosts, and that momentum went on the side of the Tigers, with them outscoring the Indians, 11-0 in the final 1:38 of the quarter.

That run of scoring began with a 3-pointer from Cody Hardesty, followed by a 3-pointer by teammate Brock Dean, tying the score at 14-14. With 30 seconds left on the clock, Hardesty sank another 3-pointer to push the Tigers in front by three points. MHS ended the quarter with a jumper at the buzzer by Randall Mischal for what was the five-point lead after the first frame.

By the time the second frame came to a close, it was a different story for each team. The Indians (2-5, 5-7) won the frame, 18-11, and with that took a halftime lead of 32-30 over the Tigers.

A big part of that turnaround for the Tribe came with Mycroft netting the first six Hillsboro points of the second frame, but those were mixed in by McClain’s scoring from Alex Hollar and a 3-pointer by Mat Barton.

That round of scoring brought the Indians to within four points of tying the Tigers at 24-20, and a jumper by Logan Kibler inched the Indians even closer at 24-22 with 3:44 left in the opening half.

McClain answered with four points, but five points by Kibler (including a 3-pointer) gave the Indians a one-point deficit, only to see that disappear with a layup by Ryan with 1:09 left in the quarter to push the Indians in front 29-28.

Kibler finished the game with seven points.

HHS lost the lead with a two-point basket from McClain’s Jacob Starkey, but Marshall Ward sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the Indians to give them the aforementioned two-point lead at the half. Ward totaled five points in the victory. Starkey led the Tigers with 14 points.

The score stayed a two-point differential after three quarters, but this time it was McClain who battled back to take control of the lead, at 42-40. The Tigers outscored HHS, 12-8 in the third quarter with eight of those points from Starkey and three from Mischal. All eight HHS points in the quarter came from Brown.

Mischal finished with 12 points in the loss, while teammates Barton totaled 11 points, and Hardesty scored eight points.

As for the final frame, HHS outscored the Tigers, 14-11, including a 3-pointer by Cameron Reed that then brought HHS within four points of the MHS lead with 2:06 left in the final quarter, a basket that began the aforementioned 10-2 run which sent HHS to the victory. Brown, Mycroft and Ryan also added points in the fourth for HHS.

Mycroft finished with 15 points for the Indians, while Ryan added six points for the game.

Free throws were rare on Friday night, with the Indians going 1-of-1 and the Tigers finishing 4-of-6.

In the JV game, Hillsboro defeated McClain, 36-28. The Indians were led by Josh Keets with 11 points, and leading MHS in scoring was Dakota Irvin, also with 11 points.

The freshman game saw the Tigers defeat the Indians, 32-28. McClain was led by Jacob Howard with 15 points, and the Indians were led by Mason Swayne with 11 points.

Both teams are back on the court Saturday night, as the Indians travel to face non-league opponent Adena, and the Tigers will host a non-league game against state-ranked Unioto.