By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots continue to surprise boys’ basketball opponents in the Red Rock Conference by remaining unbeaten in league play.
Patriot coach Steve Wiertzema expected his young team to experience some growing pains early in the year, but now he’s the leader of a surprising team that has a perfect 5-0 record in RRC play.
Southwest Star Concept became H-BC’s latest victim Monday in Hills.
The teams played a tight game through the first three quarters, but the Patriots, who made 65 percent of their field goals in the second half, went on a 25-15 scoring run in the fourth quarter to secure a 61-47 victory.
H-BC took a 36-32 lead into the final eight minutes of play and expanded it to 17 points (57-40) with a 21-8 surge in the first six minutes of the period.
SSC outscored H-BC 7-4 the rest of the way, but the game was out of reach at that point.
Kale Wiertzema, who had six rebounds and six assists in the contest, led the Patriots during the fourth quarter. Wiertzema canned a pair of three-point shots while netting eight of his team-high 17 points in the period.
Both teams had their moments in the first three quarters.
The game was tied at four when H-BC received a three from Wiertzema and a field goal by Jesse Leuthold during a 5-0 run that gave them a 9-4 lead.
Field goals by Tyson Metzger and Clint Roozenboom gave the Patriots a 13-5 cushion as the period progressed, but the Quasars closed the gap to five points (13-8) at period’s end.
SSC pulled to within two points of the Patriots twice in the early stages of the second quarter before knotting the score at 15 with 2:58 left to play.
A pair of field goals by Metzger regained the lead for H-BC, but the Quasars moved in front 20-19 with a three-point play with six seconds remaining in the first half.
Wiertzema tied the game at 20 with a free throw with two seconds remaining.
Wiertzema gave the Patriots a 28-24 cushion with a three-point shot at the 5:40 mark of the third period, but SSC responded with a 6-0 run that gave it a 30-28 edge with 1:21 remaining in the stanza.
H-BC countered with an 8-0 run consisting of four points each from Tyler Bush and Roozenboom to move in front 36-30 before settling for a 36-32 lead at period’s end.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Patriots as they opened a 10-point cushion (43-33) 3:30 into the quarter. The lead swelled to 17 points (57-40) at one stage of the period before SSC put together a late 7-4 run to fall by 14 points in the end.
Metzger had a double-double for the winners by scoring 12 points and collecting 10 rebounds.
Bush contributed 11 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals to the winning cause. Leuthold added four steals.
Box score
Bush 3 0 5-5 11, Wysong 0 0 0-0 0, Jackson 0 0 0-0 0, Roozenboom 4 0 0-1 8, Broesder 0 0 0-0 0, Wiertzema 1 4 3-4 17, Metzger 6 0 0-2 12, Leuthold 4 0 0-0 8, Van Wyhe 2 0 1-2 5.
Team statistics
H-BC: 25 of 60 field goals (42 percent), nine of 15 free throws (60 percent), 33 rebounds, 13 turnovers.
SSC: 14 of 46 field goals (30 percent), 12 of 15 free throws (80 percent), 25 rebounds, 18 turnovers.