Hillsboro wins by 27 points over Wildcats

HILLSBORO — The Hillsboro Indians took advantage of a few things that didn't go the way of their Highland County counterpart Whiteoak, eventually leading to a 63-36 win for HHS on their home court Saturday night.

The first frame was close with HHS leading 12-8, but the second frame changed the entire complexion of the contest with the Indians scoring 28 points in eight minutes, while the Indians' defense held WHS to another eight points for a 40-16 lead at the half.

In the first quarter, the Indians opened the game with a 7-2 run with points by Alex Van Zant and Trey Moberly, including a 3-pointer by Van Zant with 3:19 left in the first for the five-point advantage.

Later in the first, Van Zant had a three-point play off a steal and layup while being fouled on the layup. After the converted free throw, the Indians led 10-4 with 2:48 left in the opening frame. Van Zant led the Indians with 19 points.

WHS did respond in the first with four points to end the first-quarter scoring, with Dillon Neal and Kyle Marler making it a four-point game.

For WHS, Brandon Ashbaugh led the Wildcats with 19 points.

That all changed in the second quarter with HHS scoring 16 straight points to start the second quarter, jumping out to a 28-8 lead with 4:17 left in the first half.

"The second quarter, our press started giving them problems," HHS head coach Bruce Miles said. "We got turnovers and layups off some of our pressure on defense. It was effective for us (Saturday)."

In that 16-point run, it began with a three-point play by DJ Brown, followed by four straight points by Zach Young and two more points by Brown. Young finished with 11 points, while teammates Moberly and Brown each scored 10 points.

From there, Latrell Haithcock sank a free throw, and Young connected from beyond the arc with a 3-pointer.

"We shot a high percentage … it would have even been better, but we missed a bunch of layups," Miles said. "I told our kids to attack the basket under control. We still have to work on finishing our layups and capitalizing at the free-throw line."

Trevor Yeager broke up the scoring with two points for the Wildcats at the 4:11 mark of the quarter.

WHS head coach Jeremy McGraw also spoke about the HHS press.

"Their press caused us problems," he said. "We still have a lot of things to continue to work on as the season progresses."

From there, HHS saw Van Zant slam the ball through the basket with 3:23 left in the first half, giving the Indians a 23-point lead.

In the final two quarters, HHS outscored WHS, 23-20. The fourth quarter for HHS saw Cameron Reed sink a 3-pointer.