By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek boys locked up the Red Rock Conference championship by beating Adrian 64-52 in Adrian Tuesday.
H-BC took a 14-0 league record into the game and needed a victory in Adrian, or against Fulda in Hills on Friday to win the title outright.
After beating the Dragons by 12 points on their home floor, H-BC was able to celebrate its first RRC championship.
H-BC opened a six-point lead (16-10) in the game’s first period and extended the difference to 11 points (39-28) by outscoring the Dragons 23-18 in the second quarter.
A 17-13 scoring cushion gave the Patriots a 56-41 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Adrian sported an 11-8 scoring edge in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough to offer H-BC a serious challenge.
Trey Van Wyhe and Tyson Metzger led the Patriots with 17 and 16 points respectively. Metzger pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.
Kale Wiertzema, who had five steals, had a double-double for the winners with 12 points and 11 assists. Tyler Bush and Jesse Leuthold added five and four steals to the cause.
H-BC, 18-4 overall and the winner of 11 straight games, hosts Fulda Friday and plays in Ellsworth Monday.
Kyle Knips led the Dragons with 19 points and nine rebounds. Pete Hohn chipped in 12 points, and Brandon Wolf registered seven assists.
Adrian, 14-8, plays in Minneota Friday.
Box score
H-BC
Bush 4 0 1-2 9, Wysong 0 0 0-0 0, Roozenboom 3 0 0-0 6, Broesder 0 1 0-0 3, Wiertzema 1 1 7-9 12, Metzger 6 1 1-6 16, Leuthold 0 0 1-2 1, Van Wyhe 7 0 3-6 17.
Adrian
Hohn 6 0 0-0 12, Wolf 2 1 0-0 7, Spieker 1 0 3-3 5, Block 0 0 1-2 1, Lynn 1 0 0-0 2, K.Knips 8 0 3-6 19, C.Knips 3 0 0-0 6.
Team statistics
H-BC: 24 of 44 field goals (55 percent), 13 of 26 free throws (50 percent), 26 rebounds, 11 turnovers.
Adrian: 22 of 46 field goals (48 percent), seven of 11 free throws (64 percent), 25 rebounds, 21 turnovers.
