Transition game hurts Indians in season-opening loss to Broncos
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
HILLSBORO — The Hillsboro had trouble getting back to the defensive side of the ball … in a hurry that is, as the Western Brown Broncos used their transition game to their advantage Friday night en route to defeating the Tribe 65-55 in each team's season opener.
Hillsboro trailed by 16 points with 3:11 left in the third frame, but they rallied in a big way, switched to applying more of a pressure-style defense … and it worked, causing chaos on both sides of the floor, causing turnovers and the Indians used that style of defense to go with their offensive outburst as they cut the Western Brown lead to a single point at 52-51 with 3:45 left in the final quarter.
Then the Indians hit a wall and were unable to jump into the lead as the Broncos finished with a 13-4 run in the final 3:24 of the game.
"Poor execution in our transition defense led to them to get out and get a bunch of easy baskets and to get a nice lead," HHS head coach Brett Prince said following his regular-season debut as coach of the Indians. "We expended so much energy to get back to one point that I think we just ran out of gas playing only six guys.
"We just ran out of steam at the end … we just dug too big of a hole."
Trailing 30-24 at the start of the second half, the Indians didn't do much to help their cause as the Broncos opened by adding five more points to their overall total, taking a 35-24 advantage. That scoring turned into an 11-2 run with the Broncos leading 41-26 with 3:29 left on the third quarter clock.
After jumping up to their largest lead of the game at 43-27, the Indians woke up and came back with back-to-back baskets from senior Tyrand Cumberland, both being three-point plays, cutting the WB advantage to 43-33.
HHS finished the third on a 11-4 run with Cumberland, Táron Captain and Chase Gilliland to trail by nine at 47-38.
The first part of the fourth was full of free throws, but before the shots from the charity stripe took place, the Indians scored four points off baskets by Captain and Jarrod Hart, slashing the WB lead to 47-42, leaving 6:38 left in regulation.
Hillsboro continued to chip away at the Broncos' lead with field goals and free throws from Captain, Gilliland and a big-time 3-pointer by senior Christian Cundiff with 4:18 remaining.
Cumberland, who led HHS with 18 points, used defense to take away the ball from WB, taking the ball to the paint. While the ball was loose, Gilliland was fouled and made it count by making one free throw. Gilliland regained possession on the other side of the court as he played dodgeball (while falling out of bounds) with a Broncos' player, bouncing it off the back of a defender, forcing the ball to go out of bounds on WB.
After drawing another foul, Gilliland went back to the stripe and sank both free throws, making it a 52-51 score, bringing the Tribe within one point of tying the score. Gilliland wrapped up the contest tied with Hart with a team-high 10 points each.
That was as far the HHS could get.
The Broncos responded with points from Justin Nickel and Spencer Howard to take a 58-51 lead with 1:57 left in the fourth. WB finished the final 1:57 of the final quarter with a 9-4 run.
Nickel led all scorers with 19 points.
In the first two quarters, the Indians led 15-12 after the first eight minutes, and that included the home squad (the game was played at HHS) trailing 6-0 to open the game with consecutive 3-pointers by Nickel.
HHS answered by tying the score at 6-6 with help from Hart, Cumberland and Captain, with Cumberland putting HHS up 8-6 with a layup. Captain tallied a total of nine points.
Trailing 10-8, the Indians went on a tear at the end of the first frame by scoring seven straight points for a 15-10 lead. Those points were from Cundiff (a 3-pointer and two free throws) and Hart with inside points. Cundiff finished with eight points.
HHS managed just nine points in the second quarter, all from 3-pointers from Cumberland (two) and Hart.
The Broncos' defense forced the Indians to take outside shots.
"We lost our inside presence in the first quarter. They forced us to shoot jump shots, and we didn't make a whole lot early," Prince said.
The Indians are back at it on Saturday, traveling to Zane Trace High School to play in the ZT Invitational at 7 p.m. when they take on the Logan Elm Braves in a non-league game.
"We just have to gather the troops," Prince said of the quick turnaround in between games. "We need to find a way to get it done. We have to refocus and correct some of the little things that hurt us. That will allow us to do a little bit better job (Saturday)."
In the JV game, HHS won 27-25 in overtime. Leading the way for HHS was Wes Sears with eight points.
In the freshman game, HHS lost to WB 23-20. HHS was led in scoring by Austin Bagshaw with nine points.
BOX SCORE
VARSITY
WB 12 18 17 18 — 65
HHS 15 09 14 17 — 55
INDIVIDUAL STATS
WB (65)
H.Purdin 3 (1) 0-0 9
S.Allen 1 (0) 0-0 2
J.Nickel 5 (2) 3-7 19
C.Kuttler 4 (1) 0-1 11
S.Howard 4 (0) 0-0 8
Z.Siemer 4 (0) 4-4 12
R.Burton 2 (0) 0-0 4
TOTALS: 23 (4) 7-12 65
HHS (55)
T.Cumberland 5 (2) 2-3 18
J.Hart 3 (1) 1-2 10
C.Gilliland 3 (0) 4-6 10
T.Captain 2 (0) 5-7 9
C.Cundiff 0 (2) 2-2 8
TOTALS: 13 (5) 14-19 55
JV
WB 04 02 06 09 04 - 25
HHS 04 07 04 06 06 - 27
HHS (27)
Z.Young 2
T.Moberly 1
W.Sears 8
J.Captain 7
L.Haithcock 5
A.Branscome 2
R.Leibreich 2
- - -
FRESHMAN
WB 05 04 07 07 - 23
HHS 03 08 04 05 - 20
INDIVIDUAL STATS
HHS (23)
A.VanZant 5
A.Bagshaw 9
J.Aber 4
M.Ward 2[[In-content Ad]]
Hillsboro trailed by 16 points with 3:11 left in the third frame, but they rallied in a big way, switched to applying more of a pressure-style defense … and it worked, causing chaos on both sides of the floor, causing turnovers and the Indians used that style of defense to go with their offensive outburst as they cut the Western Brown lead to a single point at 52-51 with 3:45 left in the final quarter.
Then the Indians hit a wall and were unable to jump into the lead as the Broncos finished with a 13-4 run in the final 3:24 of the game.
"Poor execution in our transition defense led to them to get out and get a bunch of easy baskets and to get a nice lead," HHS head coach Brett Prince said following his regular-season debut as coach of the Indians. "We expended so much energy to get back to one point that I think we just ran out of gas playing only six guys.
"We just ran out of steam at the end … we just dug too big of a hole."
Trailing 30-24 at the start of the second half, the Indians didn't do much to help their cause as the Broncos opened by adding five more points to their overall total, taking a 35-24 advantage. That scoring turned into an 11-2 run with the Broncos leading 41-26 with 3:29 left on the third quarter clock.
After jumping up to their largest lead of the game at 43-27, the Indians woke up and came back with back-to-back baskets from senior Tyrand Cumberland, both being three-point plays, cutting the WB advantage to 43-33.
HHS finished the third on a 11-4 run with Cumberland, Táron Captain and Chase Gilliland to trail by nine at 47-38.
The first part of the fourth was full of free throws, but before the shots from the charity stripe took place, the Indians scored four points off baskets by Captain and Jarrod Hart, slashing the WB lead to 47-42, leaving 6:38 left in regulation.
Hillsboro continued to chip away at the Broncos' lead with field goals and free throws from Captain, Gilliland and a big-time 3-pointer by senior Christian Cundiff with 4:18 remaining.
Cumberland, who led HHS with 18 points, used defense to take away the ball from WB, taking the ball to the paint. While the ball was loose, Gilliland was fouled and made it count by making one free throw. Gilliland regained possession on the other side of the court as he played dodgeball (while falling out of bounds) with a Broncos' player, bouncing it off the back of a defender, forcing the ball to go out of bounds on WB.
After drawing another foul, Gilliland went back to the stripe and sank both free throws, making it a 52-51 score, bringing the Tribe within one point of tying the score. Gilliland wrapped up the contest tied with Hart with a team-high 10 points each.
That was as far the HHS could get.
The Broncos responded with points from Justin Nickel and Spencer Howard to take a 58-51 lead with 1:57 left in the fourth. WB finished the final 1:57 of the final quarter with a 9-4 run.
Nickel led all scorers with 19 points.
In the first two quarters, the Indians led 15-12 after the first eight minutes, and that included the home squad (the game was played at HHS) trailing 6-0 to open the game with consecutive 3-pointers by Nickel.
HHS answered by tying the score at 6-6 with help from Hart, Cumberland and Captain, with Cumberland putting HHS up 8-6 with a layup. Captain tallied a total of nine points.
Trailing 10-8, the Indians went on a tear at the end of the first frame by scoring seven straight points for a 15-10 lead. Those points were from Cundiff (a 3-pointer and two free throws) and Hart with inside points. Cundiff finished with eight points.
HHS managed just nine points in the second quarter, all from 3-pointers from Cumberland (two) and Hart.
The Broncos' defense forced the Indians to take outside shots.
"We lost our inside presence in the first quarter. They forced us to shoot jump shots, and we didn't make a whole lot early," Prince said.
The Indians are back at it on Saturday, traveling to Zane Trace High School to play in the ZT Invitational at 7 p.m. when they take on the Logan Elm Braves in a non-league game.
"We just have to gather the troops," Prince said of the quick turnaround in between games. "We need to find a way to get it done. We have to refocus and correct some of the little things that hurt us. That will allow us to do a little bit better job (Saturday)."
In the JV game, HHS won 27-25 in overtime. Leading the way for HHS was Wes Sears with eight points.
In the freshman game, HHS lost to WB 23-20. HHS was led in scoring by Austin Bagshaw with nine points.
BOX SCORE
VARSITY
WB 12 18 17 18 — 65
HHS 15 09 14 17 — 55
INDIVIDUAL STATS
WB (65)
H.Purdin 3 (1) 0-0 9
S.Allen 1 (0) 0-0 2
J.Nickel 5 (2) 3-7 19
C.Kuttler 4 (1) 0-1 11
S.Howard 4 (0) 0-0 8
Z.Siemer 4 (0) 4-4 12
R.Burton 2 (0) 0-0 4
TOTALS: 23 (4) 7-12 65
HHS (55)
T.Cumberland 5 (2) 2-3 18
J.Hart 3 (1) 1-2 10
C.Gilliland 3 (0) 4-6 10
T.Captain 2 (0) 5-7 9
C.Cundiff 0 (2) 2-2 8
TOTALS: 13 (5) 14-19 55
JV
WB 04 02 06 09 04 - 25
HHS 04 07 04 06 06 - 27
HHS (27)
Z.Young 2
T.Moberly 1
W.Sears 8
J.Captain 7
L.Haithcock 5
A.Branscome 2
R.Leibreich 2
- - -
FRESHMAN
WB 05 04 07 07 - 23
HHS 03 08 04 05 - 20
INDIVIDUAL STATS
HHS (23)
A.VanZant 5
A.Bagshaw 9
J.Aber 4
M.Ward 2[[In-content Ad]]