Rough second half snaps Indians’ 3-game winning streak in loss to Goshen
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
If there ever was a game where the old saying “a tale of two halves” could be used, it was Tuesday night for the Hillsboro Indians in their non-conference 69-47 loss to the visiting Goshen Warriors at Hillsboro High School, snapping the Indians’ three-game winning streak.
The Indians played well in the first half, trailing by just two points at the end of the first frame at 16-14, and once halftime arrived they held a 32-29 lead, outscoring Goshen 18-13 in the second frame.
All of that changed in a hurry in the third and fourth quarters with the Warriors outscoring the Indians, 17-5 in the third and 23-10 in the fourth for a 40-15 second half scoring total led by the Warriors. For the game, the Warriors made 10 3-pointers, plus they were 13-of-19 from the free-throw line. On the other side, the Indians made six 3-pointers and were 7-of-10 in their free-throw shooting for the game.
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“It was obviously a tale of two halves for us,” Hillsboro head coach Bruce Miles said. “We preached to our guys that the first two to three minutes of the second half were crucial for us. We lost some of their shooters, and they are extremely talented from the three-point line. The difference in the second half was we lost our guys in the half-court, where we didn’t locate shooters.
“Our focus tonight and our keys for us were taking care of the ball and being patient on offense. I thought the first half, for the most part, we did those things, and that’s why we had a lead at halftime. The second half, it was an avalanche that we got hit with.”
Back to the first half, the first frame saw the Indians down early off four straight points by the visitors to start the game, but that was answered with a 3-pointer from Ryan Scott two minutes into the opening quarter. Scott finished with 11 points for the game.
Again, the Warriors were there with consecutive baskets off HHS turnovers by Goshen’s Josh Hice for an 8-3 lead with 4:56 left in the first frame.
That small streak of scoring was stopped once again by Scott, this time with a jumper, but Goshen came back with a 3-pointer to add to their lead. This time it was Hillsboro’s Ethan Watson who sank a 3-pointer at the 2:34 mark to get the Indians within three points of the Warriors. Nearly one minute later. the Indians had a jumper by Watson to make it a one-point game, as he led the Indians with 12 total points in the loss.
The Warriors sank another trey from Hice, and by the time the frame came to a close, Watson and Scott each hit another bucket in between a basket by the Warriors for the two-point deficit after eight minutes. Hice led all scorers with 18 points.
After some back and forth to start the second-quarter scoring with points from Scott and Luke Magulac, the Indians tied the game at 20-20 off a 3-pointer by Watson. After Goshen built back a four-point lead, Mason Swayne made a three-point play, and Watson hit a jumper to push the Indians in front at 25-24 with 3:07 left in the first half. Brad Miller added to the HHS lead with a basket in the paint off an underhand pass by Swayne. Both Swayne and Miller each finished with seven points for HHS.
Goshen tied the game with a trifecta by Christian Kollmorgen with .55 on the scoreboard, making the score 27-27. Kollmorgen finished the game with 15 points.
The Indians then had points from Swayne and Miller for a 30-27 advantage. After two made free throws by GHS, the Indians scored the final points of the first half with two free-throw conversions by Scott for the three-point lead at halftime.
Then the second half happened, and all went right for the Warriors, beginning with them scoring the six points of the third frame for a 36-32 lead, and they never lost the lead for the remainder of the game. The Indians’ third-quarter scoring consisted of a layup by Swayne, which at the time made it a 36-34 score in favor of Goshen, and at the end of the quarter the Indians had a three-point play by Miller.
Beginning the fourth, the Indians trailed by nine points, and that quickly increased to 12 points off a 3-pointer to start the frame by Goshen’s Victor Hill, who finished with 12 total points. From there, the Warriors outscored the host Indians by 13 points in the frame at 23-10.
Hillsboro had points by Miller in the fourth off a free throw, and in the latter half of the quarter they made three 3-pointers from players coming off the bench, including two treys by Jared Thompson and one from Lawton Parry.
Next for Hillsboro are two consecutive away games as they will play a Frontier Athletic Conference game on Friday, Feb. 1 at Chillicothe, followed by an another away game on Saturday, Feb. 2 at Western Brown, which is a non-conference game.
The Indians played well in the first half, trailing by just two points at the end of the first frame at 16-14, and once halftime arrived they held a 32-29 lead, outscoring Goshen 18-13 in the second frame.
All of that changed in a hurry in the third and fourth quarters with the Warriors outscoring the Indians, 17-5 in the third and 23-10 in the fourth for a 40-15 second half scoring total led by the Warriors. For the game, the Warriors made 10 3-pointers, plus they were 13-of-19 from the free-throw line. On the other side, the Indians made six 3-pointers and were 7-of-10 in their free-throw shooting for the game.
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“It was obviously a tale of two halves for us,” Hillsboro head coach Bruce Miles said. “We preached to our guys that the first two to three minutes of the second half were crucial for us. We lost some of their shooters, and they are extremely talented from the three-point line. The difference in the second half was we lost our guys in the half-court, where we didn’t locate shooters.
“Our focus tonight and our keys for us were taking care of the ball and being patient on offense. I thought the first half, for the most part, we did those things, and that’s why we had a lead at halftime. The second half, it was an avalanche that we got hit with.”
Back to the first half, the first frame saw the Indians down early off four straight points by the visitors to start the game, but that was answered with a 3-pointer from Ryan Scott two minutes into the opening quarter. Scott finished with 11 points for the game.
Again, the Warriors were there with consecutive baskets off HHS turnovers by Goshen’s Josh Hice for an 8-3 lead with 4:56 left in the first frame.
That small streak of scoring was stopped once again by Scott, this time with a jumper, but Goshen came back with a 3-pointer to add to their lead. This time it was Hillsboro’s Ethan Watson who sank a 3-pointer at the 2:34 mark to get the Indians within three points of the Warriors. Nearly one minute later. the Indians had a jumper by Watson to make it a one-point game, as he led the Indians with 12 total points in the loss.
The Warriors sank another trey from Hice, and by the time the frame came to a close, Watson and Scott each hit another bucket in between a basket by the Warriors for the two-point deficit after eight minutes. Hice led all scorers with 18 points.
After some back and forth to start the second-quarter scoring with points from Scott and Luke Magulac, the Indians tied the game at 20-20 off a 3-pointer by Watson. After Goshen built back a four-point lead, Mason Swayne made a three-point play, and Watson hit a jumper to push the Indians in front at 25-24 with 3:07 left in the first half. Brad Miller added to the HHS lead with a basket in the paint off an underhand pass by Swayne. Both Swayne and Miller each finished with seven points for HHS.
Goshen tied the game with a trifecta by Christian Kollmorgen with .55 on the scoreboard, making the score 27-27. Kollmorgen finished the game with 15 points.
The Indians then had points from Swayne and Miller for a 30-27 advantage. After two made free throws by GHS, the Indians scored the final points of the first half with two free-throw conversions by Scott for the three-point lead at halftime.
Then the second half happened, and all went right for the Warriors, beginning with them scoring the six points of the third frame for a 36-32 lead, and they never lost the lead for the remainder of the game. The Indians’ third-quarter scoring consisted of a layup by Swayne, which at the time made it a 36-34 score in favor of Goshen, and at the end of the quarter the Indians had a three-point play by Miller.
Beginning the fourth, the Indians trailed by nine points, and that quickly increased to 12 points off a 3-pointer to start the frame by Goshen’s Victor Hill, who finished with 12 total points. From there, the Warriors outscored the host Indians by 13 points in the frame at 23-10.
Hillsboro had points by Miller in the fourth off a free throw, and in the latter half of the quarter they made three 3-pointers from players coming off the bench, including two treys by Jared Thompson and one from Lawton Parry.
Next for Hillsboro are two consecutive away games as they will play a Frontier Athletic Conference game on Friday, Feb. 1 at Chillicothe, followed by an another away game on Saturday, Feb. 2 at Western Brown, which is a non-conference game.