Hills-Beaver Creek senior forward Brad Haak weaves his way around Ellsworth's Brant Deutsch to score two of his team-high 16 points during a 56-53 win over the Panthers.
By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek boys' basketball team has built up a head of steam heading into post-season play after defeating Ellsworth 56-53 Monday in Ellsworth.
After losing three of four games during a stretch late in the season, H-BC appears to have turned things around while winning its last two games to end a 14-8 regular season.
Ellsworth, on the other hand, seems to be losing momentum after winning 18 of its first 21 games. The 18-5 Panthers will take a season-long two-game losing streak into the post season.
Both H-BC and Ellsworth will be in action during the South Section 3A quarterfinals that will be played in Worthington Saturday. No. 4 H-BC plays No. 5 MCC at 4:40 p.m. No. 3 Ellsworth faces either No. 6 Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster or No. 11 Westbrook-Walnut Grove.
EHS can be thankful it wonÕt meet H-BC to start post-season play as it appears the Patriots have the Panthers' number.
H-BC beat the Panthers 77-43 in Hills Nov. 29, and they came out on top in a game that featured two different halves in Ellsworth Monday.
Ellsworth dictated play while sporting modest leads at the first two quarter breaks. The second half belonged to the Patriots as they outscored EHS 33-24.
The second half didn't start out well for H-BC as Panther Dylan Kvaale hit a three-point shot to give EHS its biggest lead of the game at 34-25 early in the third quarter.
H-BC countered with a 19-6 run that gave it a 44-40 advantage at the end of the third quarter.
The rally featured a three-point shot by Lyle DeBoer that tied the game at 40 with 2:08 remaining in the stanza. David Top gave the Patriots the lead with two free throws at the 1:15 mark, and Trey Van Wyhe turned an offensive rebound into a field goal with 46 seconds left to end the scoring in the third quarter.
Kvaale gave Ellsworth what proved to be its final lead (49-48) of the game when he drained a three-point shot with 4:32 left to play in the game.
Two free throws by Van Wyhe at 4:14 and another by Brad Haak at 3:20 put the Patriots in front 51-49, but Panther Curt Schilling tied the game at 51 with a pair of charity shots at the 1:19 mark.
DeBoer came up big for H-BC down the stretch as he converted an offensive rebound into a field goal with one minute remaining before making a free throw 30 seconds later to make it a 54-51 game.
Two free throws by Schilling with 21.7 remaining made the difference one point (54-53), but Top ended the scoring by draining a pair of free throws with 7.8 seconds left to give H-BC its three-point win.
Ellsworth raced to a 14-4 lead in the first quarter before H-BC countered with an 8-0 run that was capped by a three-point play by Haak that knotted the score at 12 with 1:33 remaining in the stanza. Schilling hit a three with 41 seconds left to play to give the Panthers a 15-12 lead they would take into the second quarter.
A field goal by Haak at the 5:30 mark of the second period capped a 6-2 H-BC surge that gave the Patriots their first lead of the game at 18-17.
H-BC led 20-19 when EHS went on an 8-0 run capped by Blake Brommer's put-back at 2:03 to give the hosts a 27-20 advantage with 2:03 left to play in the first half.
The Patriots outscored the Panthers 3-2 in the final two minutes and trailed 29-23 at the intermission.
Haak led the Patriots with 16 points and eight rebounds in the game. Top had 15 points and five rebounds, and DeBoer added 15 points and three steals. Jesse Leuthold and Matt Buck snared seven and five rebounds respectively for the winners.
Schilling scored 32 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for EHS. Kvaale finished the game with nine rebounds and four assists.
Box score
H-BC
Roozenboom 1 0 0-0 2, Van Maanen 0 0 0-0 0, Haak 6 0 4-6 16, Leuthold 0 0 0-0 0, L.DeBoer 4 2 1-2 5, Van Wyhe 2 0 2-2 6, Top 2 2 5-7 15, Buck 1 0 0-2 2.
Ellsworth
Schilling 10 2 6-6 32, Jenniges 2 0 0-0 4, Janssen 1 0 0-0 2, Kvaale 1 2 1-2 9, Sieff 0 0 0-0 0, Deutsch 1 0 0-0 2, Brommer 1 0 0-0 2, Herman 1 0 0-0 2.
Team statistics
H-BC: 20 of 52 field goals (38 percent), 12 of 19 free throws (63 percent), 33 rebounds, 13 turnovers.
Ellsworth: 21 of 54 field goals (39 percent), seven of eight free throws (88 percent), 29 rebounds, 13 turnovers.