Indians suffer three-point loss to Chillicothe

HILLSBORO — Though the Hillsboro Indians held a one-point lead at halftime, and trailed by just two points after three quarters, the Chillicothe Cavaliers were a little too strong for the host Indians on Wednesday night, as they defeated the Indians 57-54. 

The Frontier Athletic Conference game didn’t have the best of starts for the Indians, but the opposite can be said for the Cavaliers. Chillicothe outscored the Indians 19-9 in the first quarter with the Indians trailing 7-0 less than two minutes into the game. 

Chillicothe opened the scoring with a layup by Andrew Hamman, then he followed that with another basket, plus he scored on a three-point play for the seven-point Cavalier advantage with 6:16 on the clock. Hamman ended the game with 23 points. 

HHS finally reached the scoring column with a basket by Tre Captain, and after another Chillicothe bucket scored by Caden Cox, the Indians had Brayden Hunter go underneath a defender and to the hoop for two points for a 9-4 HHS deficit. 

Chillicothe added to their lead as Hamman sank two straight 3-pointers, for a 14-4 lead by Hillsboro’s FAC foe, forcing the Indians to call a timeout. 

Hunter came out of the timeout for a one-handed basket, and the Cavs answered with a put-back bucket for two more points. The quarter ended with Hillsboro’s Jack Howland sinking a 3-pointer with 7.6 left on the clock, only to have Cooper Stoneking of Chillicothe hit a lone-range 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 19-9 lead for the visitors. 

Though the Indians didn’t have the best first quarter, their second quarter made up for it with HHS outscoring Chillicothe 15-4 to take a one-point lead at halftime by a 24-23 score. 

HHS scored 13 straight points in the second, and their 13-0 run started with a jumper by Mason Dumpert, followed with a 3-pointer by Hunter, and a fast break layup by Howland, off a pass in transition by Tate Davis with 3:11 left in the quarter. Howland finished the game with 18 points. 

Next was a 3-pointer by Howland with 2:46 on the clock, tying the score at 19, then came a 3-pointer by Captain with 1:59 left in the first half for a 22-19 Hillsboro advantage. The Cavs scored four consecutive points, but the final points of the quarter came with a basket at the buzzer by Captain for the one-point HHS lead, as Captain ended the game with 17 points. 

Chillicothe had a bigger presence when it came to offensive rebounding in the game — CHS had 15 offensive rebounds, scoring 15 points off those rebounds — and they outscored the Indians in the third quarter at 19-16 for a 42-40 lead after the third quarter wrapped up. 

The score was tied twice in the third frame at 28-28 and later at 35-35.

To start the third, Davis scored his first points of the game with a basket at the 7:36 mark of the quarter, then the Indians extended their lead to five points with a basket by Captain. 

After five consecutive points by Chillicothe, which tied the score at 28 with 5:54 left in the quarter, it was the aforementioned 3-pointer by Howland, followed by a free throw from Captain that lifted the Indians to a four-point lead at 32-28. 

CHS scored the next seven points for a 35-32 lead, but at the 3:06 mark, Howland made his second 3-pointer of the quarter for a 35-35 score. 

The Cavs answered with a three-point play by Hamman to regain the lead, a lead they held for the rest of the quarter. 

Chillicothe built a five-point lead to start the fourth quarter, but again, the Indians battled to tie the score, this time at 45-45 off a three-point play by Captain, then a two-point basket from Captain as well, with the steal and assist going to Davis with 5:30 left in regulation. 

The Cavaliers built their lead back to three points, and eventually the score was tied at 50-50 with 3:59 on the fourth-quarter clock following a 30-pointer from Howland. The Indians took the lead off a layup from Dumpert, but the Cavaliers came back with a 7-1 run to end the game 

Final scoring totals for the Cavaliers were: Hamman (23), Caden Cox (10), Cartae Ligon (10), Stoneking (9), Cam Badger (3) and Noah Netter (2). The Cavaliers totaled 21 two-point baskets, three 3-pointers, and they were 6-of-10 from the free-throw line. 

Final scoring totals for Hillsboro were Dumpert (4), Hunter (7), Davis (8), Captain (17), and Howland (18). HHS totaled 14 two-point baskets, seven 3-pointers (five by Howland), and they were 5-of-9 from the free-throw line. 

HHS is now 2-4 in the FAC standings and 8-8 overall. Chillicothe improves to 4-2 in the FAC and 7-7 overall. 

Next for Hillsboro is a road FAC game at Jackson on Friday, Jan. 31. Chillicothe is scheduled to host the Washington Blue Lions on Friday, Jan. 31 in a FAC game. 

BOX SCORE
CHS    19 04 19 15 — 57
HHS    09 15 16 14 — 54

CHILLICOTHE (57) — C.Cox 5 (0) 0-0 10. A.Hammon 7 (2) 3-4 23, C.Stoneking 3 (1) 0-0 9, N.Netter 1 (0) 0-0 2, C.Badger 1 (0) 1-2 3, C.Ligon 4 (0) 2-4 10. TOTALS: 21 (3) 6-10 57. 

HILLSBORO (53) — M.Dumpert 2 (0) 0-0 4, T.Davis 3 (0) 2-2 8, B.Hunter 2 (1) 0-0 7, T.Captain 6 (1) 2-3 17, J.Howland 1 (5) 1-4 18. TOTALS: 14 (7) 5-9 54.