Indians win home opener over visiting Waverly 

Overcoming a first-half deficit in their 2024-25 home opener, and just their second game of the season, the Hillsboro Indians stood their ground. The Indians didn’t back down, having a strong second-half effort en route to a 57-48 victory over the visiting Waverly Tigers Tuesday.

Hillsboro (2-0) and the Tigers put on quite a show for the fans in attendance at the Hillsboro High School gymnasium, with the two teams playing close basketball in the first frame.

From close to the halfway point of the opening frame until time ran out, it was Waverly controlling the tempo, leading by as many as eight points, but eventually the Indians made it a three-point game with Waverly leading 15-12 at the conclusion of the first quarter.

In the first frame, the Indians led by five points early in the game with points from Tate Davis and Jack Howland, with Howland  — who totaled 11 points and seven rebounds — sinking a 3-pointer. Eventually the lead went to three points and back up to five following a basket by Xander Lake, and the Tigers tied the game at 7-7 with 4:43 on the clock.

“Tate Davis is a leader,” Hillsboro head coach Josh Howland said. “He's going to stay calm, and we're going to go through adversity. We talked about that. We knew we went through adversity, but that's where he comes in. He gets reps in, puts the work in. Really, all of our players do. All of our boys practice, usually, a minimum, two and a half hours every day, and that shows.

“Waverly is a good team. They start four sophomores and freshmen, and I'll tell you what, their future is bright, that's for sure.”

Waverly’s Kage Alexander drained a 3-pointer at the 3:56 mark of the first, and the Tigers made the next two baskets, also 3-pointers, as Landyn Russell and Alexander put Waverly in front 13-7. Alexander ended the game with 15 points. 

Another basket by the Tigers, this one a two-point field goal from Cade Carroll, left the visitors ahead by eight points at the 1:16 mark for a 15-7 advantage.

Howland ended the first quarter by cutting the Indians’ deficit to three points at 15-12 with a jumper followed with a three-point play.

The Indians trailed by five points once halftime arrived, being outscored 13-11. HHS was 3-of-5 from the free-throw line in the quarter, plus had baskets made by Mason Dumpert, Brayden Hunter (a 3-pointer) and Dylan Dixon. Hunter finished with six points for Hillsboro.

The Tigers’ second frame saw a 3-pointer from Teagan Hurt, plus two baskets by Gunnar Myers, a bucker from Alexander, and two baskets by Sawyer Myers, putting the Tigers ahead at 28-23 after two quarters.

Hillsboro came out of the locker room following halftime and had Dumpert convert a three-point play, but the Tigers answered with five straight points, pushing their lead to seven points.

The Indians responded with a jumper by Davis, and 12 game seconds later, the senior drew a charge.

Next, you could say that Hillsboro added a sixth “Great Lake” to the mix, with Xander Lake scoring the next seven points in a span of just a little over two minutes as the new HHS player settled down and brought his best game to the court in the third frame. Lake finished the game with 21 points (19 points in the second half) and six rebounds.

“It’s his first year at Hillsboro, first year playing in front of a crowd like this, so he's a little bit nervous. He gets a mulligan for that first half,” Howland said. “He came out the second half, and he ended up with 19 points in the second half. We talked to him about his defense in the second half, how he had to step up from the first half, and boy, he did.”

After Lake’s points were added to the HHS side of the scoreboard, they held a 35-33 lead with 2:47 on the clock. The score was tied twice more in the third, but Hillsboro ended the third with a one-point advantage with Tre Captain making a basket, and later followed by Davis making a free throw with 29.9 left on the clock. Davis finished the game with eight points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.

HHS in the fourth only lost possession of the lead for around 20 or so seconds, with the score being tied twice, and WHS leading once from the 6:38 mark to the 6:17 mark of the final quarter.

The fourth began with a rebound and layup from Lake, and after the Tigers scored two points, Hunter converted two free throws. Waverly answered with two free throws of their own with 6:38 left in the game, but Lake came back with six consecutive points, dominating the paint and driving to the hoop for three consecutive baskets for a 48-44 Indians advantage.

After a break in the scoring for both teams, Lake, once again, added to his scoring with another basket through the defense of the Tigers, and Dumpert followed with a made free throw with 1:34 left in the game, for a 51-44 HHS lead. Dumpert totaled seven points one rebound and one steal in the win.

“I thought [Lake] and our other role players stepped up,” Howland said. “I thought Mason Dumpert and Tre Captain had a nice second half. Brayden Hunter had a nice second half. We always know Tate's going to have a good second half. Even if they challenge him in the first half, they're going to wear down before he does.”

HHS turned their lead to nine points with a basket by Howland, and followed by four points from Waverly, Howland connected with two free-throw shots. Lake ended the scoring for the game with two made attempts from the free-throw line, as the Indians secured a nine-point lead.

Next for Hillsboro is a Frontier Athletic Conference game Friday, Dec. 15 on the road against the Chillicothe Cavaliers.

BOX SCORE
WHS    15 13 09 11 — 48
HHS    12 11 15 19 — 57

HILLSBORO (57) — X.Lake 8 (0) 5-6 21, M.Dumpert 2 (0) 3-4 7, T.Davis 1 (1) 3-4 8, B.Hunter 0 (1) 3-4 6, D.Dixon 1 (0) 0-0 2, T.Captain 1 (0) 0-2 2, J.Howland 4 (0) 3-3 11. TOTALS 17 (2) 17-23 57.

WAVERLY (48) — G.Myers 2 (0) 0-0 4, C.Carroll 1 (0) 0-2 2, L.Russell 3 (2) 0-0 12, K.Alexander 2 (3) 2-2 15, T.Hurt 1 (1) 2-2 7, S.Myers 4 (0) 0-0 8. TOTALS: 13 (6) 4-6 48.

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