By John Rittenhouse
A fourth-quarter surge by the Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots carried them to a 44-27 Red Rock Conference West boys' basketball win in Adrian Thursday.
In what was a low-scoring contest, H-BC sported slim leads at the first three quarter breaks.
Adrian was in a position to challenge the Patriots with a strong fourth quarter, but H-BC dominated the final eight minutes of play while outscoring the hosts 16-5 to win by 17.
H-BCÕs late rally put a close game out of Adrian's reach.
The Patriots led 11-10 after eight minutes of play and sported a 15-12 advantage at the end of a second period that featured both teams scoring a combined six points.
H-BC increased its lead to six points (28-22) by the end of the third quarter before icing the contest in the fourth quarter.
Matt Buck, who had three assists, led the 3-2 Patriots with 16 points and eight rebounds. Lyle DeBoer added 12 points, six rebounds and three steals to the winning cause. David Top had seven rebounds for the Patriots. Darin DeBoer contributed six rebounds and three assists.
Bryce Block scored 14 points and Kyle Knips grabbed 12 rebounds for the 1-3 Dragons.
Box score
H-BC
D.DeBoer 0 0 1-2 1, Van Maanen 0 0 0-0 0, Haak 3 0 2-4 8, Leuthold 0 0 2-2 2, L.DeBoer 6 0 0-0 12, Top 1 1 0-1 5, Buck 7 0 2-4 16.
Adrian
Hohn 0 1 0-0 3, Wolf 0 1 0-0 3, Henning 0 0 1-2 1, Block 5 1 1-1 14, K.Knips 1 0 0-0 2, Kruger 0 0 2-2 2, C.Knips 1 0 0-1 2.
Team statistics
H-BC: 18 of 48 field goals (38 percent), seven of 13 free throws (54 percent), 33 rebounds, 12 turnovers.
Adrian: 10 of 52 field goals (19 percent), four of eight free throws (50 percent), 28 rebounds, 10 turnovers.