4th quarter gets away from Hillsboro in loss against Blue Lions 

WASHINGTON C.H. — For three quarters, the Hillsboro Indians battled strong on the road against the Washington Blue Lions, trailing by just four points after those first three frames. 

Things changed in the fourth quarter. 

In the Frontier Athletic Conference game in Washington Court House, the Indians had troubles stopping the Blue Lions from having second- and third-chance opportunities, eventually letting Washington break away in the scoring column, leading to a 13-point loss by a 65-52 score. 

This was also the Indians’ third consecutive loss, and fourth of the season, as they are now 3-2 in the FAC standings and 6-4 overall this season. Washington improved to 4-1 in the FAC and 9-2 overall. 

Even with this being the Indians’ third straight loss, they are still outscoring their opponents for the season, averaging 56.8 points per game, while allowing 51.3 ppg. 

In the three straight losses, HHS is averaging 52 ppg, and allowing 67 ppg.

“We’ll bounce back,” Hillsboro head coach Josh Howland said. “The kids come in and work, and they’re a great group of kids. They're not going to give up. They'll keep battling, and we'll get better. 

“They’re playing hard, we’re just making some young mistakes. Some of even our seniors haven't played as much varsity as a lot of seniors have. As we keep going this season, we feel like we're going to get a lot better.”

That said, on Tuesday at Washington the Indians led 13-12 at the end of the first quarter, and after the Blue Lions took an early lead, the Indians scored six straight points off baskets by Steven Kibler for four points and Nic Burns with a basket in the paint with 5:10 left in the opening frame. 

From there, the Blue Lions scored five consecutive points off a layup by Isaiah Haithcock, a free throw from Noah Haithcock and a fast-break layup from Garrett Rickman with 2:27 left in the first for a 7-6 Washington lead.

Jack Howland put the Indians back in front with a 3-pointer at the 2:09 mark of the first, but Washington regained the lead with a 3-pointer from Rickman for a 10-9 Blue Lion advantage.

HHS answered with a one-handed basket by Tate Davis, and the quarter ended with the two teams exchanging baskets, as Isaiah Haithcock and Kibler each scored two points from the field for a 13-12 HHS advantage. 

Washington outscored the Indians by seven points in the second quarter as the Blue Lions began the second frame with a 10-0 run, as eight points were scored in the paint by Gabe Tayese, who dominated the boards for the Blue Lions with multiple second-chance opportunities with offensive rebounds before scoring points in the paint. 

“They have a strong guy inside, obviously, and we had him getting 17 offensive boards tonight,” Howland said. “We just gave up too many second chances. 

“[Tayese] filled his role well, and it was disappointing on  our part not to box him out. Sometimes you rotate defensively just to box out, and that's part we weren't doing.”

John Wall completed Washington’s 10-0 run with a layup with 4:37 left in the quarter, and the Indians responded by scoring six straight points, putting them back to within three points of WCH at 22-19 with 1:50 left in the first half. Those HHS points were scored by Kibler, Davis and Dorian Stewart. 

Washington responded with a 3-pointer by Wall and a jumper from Rickman for an eight-point lead at 27-19 with 1:03 left on the clock. 

HHS came back with two converted free throws by Brayden Hunter, but the Blue Lions responded with a put-back basket by Isaiah Haithcock. HHS ended the second-quarter scoring with a free throw from Kibler. 

The Indians got as close as within two points of tying the score in the third with 42.1 on the clock, but finished the frame trailing by four points at 46-42.

In the third quarter, Washington extended their lead to nine points with 7:03 left in the frame, but HHS cut the lead to five points with a basket by Kibler, followed by a basket by Davis, with the assist by Kibler. 

WHS came back with two made buckets, but Howland kept the Indians close with two made free throws, plus a layup at the 3:34 mark for a 36-30 deficit. 

Later in the third, following Washington scoring two points, Howland connected from beyond the arc with a timely 3-pointer from the freshman to trail by a 38-33 score. 

As the quarter went on, the teams continued to exchange baskets, but with 42.1 left in the third, two free throws by Burns left the Indians trailing 44-42. Those free throws completed a 7-0 run for Hillsboro, which also included two free throws by Kibler and a 3-pointer made by Howland. 

Washington extended their lead to four points with 22 seconds left in the third, followed two points in the paint off another offensive rebound by Tayese. 

The Blue Lions controlled the fourth frame, outscoring the Indians 19-10 for the 13-point win over HHS. 

For the Blue Lions in the fourth, Rickman scored six points, Tayese added five points, Isaiah Haithcock scored four points, while Wall and Noah Haithcock each scored two points in the final quarter.

The Indians’ 10 points came from a 3-pointer by Kibler, two points each by Mason Dumpert, Burns, and Stewart, plus one point was scored by Davis. 

Kibler led the Indians with 16 points, followed by Howland with 15 points. 

The rest of the Indians’ final scoring included Davis (7), Burns (6), Stewart (4), Hunter (2) and Dumpert (2). 

Washington was led in scoring by Rickman and Isaiah Haithcock with 18 points each, followed by Tayese with 15 points, Wall with 11 points and Noah Haithcock with three points. 

As a team the Blue Lions totaled 27 two-point baskets, three 3-pointers and they were 2-of-5 from the free-throw line. Washington also had 13 turnovers. 

Hillsboro as a team totaled 12 two-point baskets, four 3-pointers, and they were 14-of-18 from the free-throw line. HHS committed 14 turnovers in the FAC loss. 

Next for HHS is a home FAC game on Friday, Jan. 12 vs. the Jackson Ironmen. 

The Blue Lions are scheduled to face the Chillicothe Cavaliers on Friday, Jan. 12 in FAC play in WCH. 

BOX SCORE
HHS     13 09 20 10 — 52
WCH    12 17 17 19 — 65

WASHINGTON (65) — G.Rickman 6 (2) 0-0 18, J.Wall 4 (1) 0-0 11, N.Haithcock 1 (0) 1-1 3, G.Tayese 7 (0) 1-1 15, I.Haithcock 9 (0) 0-3 18. TOTALS: 27 (3) 2-5 65.

HILLSBORO (52) — M.Dumpert 1 (0) 0-0 2, T.Davis 3 (0) 1-2 7, B.Hunter 1 (0) 0-0 2, S.Kibler 5 (1) 3-4 16, N.Burns 2 (0) 2-2 6, J.Howland 1 (3) 4-6 15, D.Stewart 0 (0) 4-4 4. TOTALS: 13 (4) 14-18 52.