By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek boys recorded their sixth consecutive basketball victory Tuesday in Okabena.
Playing Southwest Star Concept in a Red Rock Conference battle, H-BC turned in an impressive offensive performance while nailing down a 76-60 win.
The Patriots canned 28 of 45 field goals in the game and outscored the Quasars in three of the contest’s four quarters to up their season record to 13-4.
"We played pretty well," said Patriot coach Steve Wiertzema. "We were very patient and took good shots."
H-BC led 21-18 at the end of a hard-fought first quarter, but Trey Van Wyhe and Kale Wiertzema helped the Patriots gain some separation in the second period.
Van Wyhe scored eight of his team-high 20 points in the second quarter and Wiertzema capped a 15-point first half by netting seven counters in the period as H-BC outscored SSC 29-18 to take a 50-36 halftime lead.
H-BC increased its lead to 16 points (65-49) with a 15-13 scoring edge in the third quarter and prevailed by 13 after battling SSC to a draw at 11 in the fourth quarter.
Coach Wiertzema said Van Wyhe and Jesse Leuthold played great games in the post. Leuthold had eight rebounds and seven steals. Van Wyhe had seven rebounds.
Wiertzema scored 17 points, passed for 10 assists and snared five rebounds for the winners. Tyson Metzger netted 15 points, and Tyler Bush added 12 points, six assists and four steals.
H-BC, 11-0 in the RRC, plays in Round Lake Friday before hosting Edgerton Tuesday.
Box score
Bush 5 0 2-3 12, Wysong 0 1 0-0 3, Broesder 0 0 0-0 0, Wiertzema 3 3 2-6 17, Metzger 2 3 2-4 15, Leuthold 2 0 3-4 7. Van Wyhe 8 0 4-4 20, Spykerboer 1 0 0-0 2.
Team statistics
H-BC: 28 of 45 field goals (62 percent), 13 of 21 free throws (62 percent), 27 rebounds, 23 turnovers.
SSC: 26 of 54 field goals (48 percent), five of nine free throws (56 percent), 23 rebounds, 23 turnovers.