Hills-Beaver Creek sophomore guard Tyler Bush drives to the basket during the first half of Tuesday's boys' basketball game against Mountain Lake-Butterfield-
Oden in Hills.
By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek boys’ basketball team went 2-1 while playing three games in a six-day span.
The Patriots beat Fulda by five points in Fulda Thursday before Lincoln HI snapped their three-game winning streak in Ivanhoe Monday. H-BC returned to the court Tuesday in Hills, nipping Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin by one point to up their Red Rock Conference record to 7-0.
The 8-4 Patriots host Westbrook-Walnut Grove Friday before playing West Lyon near Inwood, Iowa, Saturday.
H-BC 51, ML-B-O 50
The Patriots overcame a rough start to remain unbeaten in RRC play with a one-point victory over the Wolverines in Hills Tuesday.
ML-B-O dominated play on the inside while opening a 17-10 lead in the first quarter, but the Patriots regrouped to outscore the Wolverines 41-33 the rest of the way to notch a win.
H-BC moved into a 30-27 lead by halftime after outscoring ML-B-O 20-10 in the second quarter, and the difference remained three points (42-39) in H-BC’s favor heading into the fourth quarter.
ML-B-O did have the ball with five seconds remaining trailing by one point, but a running shot in the lane drew iron and bounced away from the target as time expired.
"ML-B-O is a pretty good team," said Patriot coach Steve Wiertzema. "They are big and quick. We did a lot better job of playing defense and rebounding in the second half. They only had three offensive rebounds in the second half, and they were killing us on the boards in the first half."
Tyson Metzger scored 17 points, pulled down seven rebounds and charted three steals for H-BC. Trey Van Wyhe netted 11 points and collected nine caroms. Tyler Bush contributed seven assists, six rebounds and three steals to the cause. Kale Wiertzema added six rebounds and six assists.
Box score
Bush 3 0 0-1 6, Wysong 0 0 0-0 0, Roozenboom 2 0 0-0 4, Wiertzema 1 1 2-4 7, Metzger 5 1 4-7 17, Leuthold 3 0 0-0 6, Van Wyhe 4 0 3-4 11.
Team statistics
H-BC 20 of 49 field goals (41 percent), nine of 16 free throws (56 percent), 36 rebounds, 15 turnovers.
ML-B-O: 20 of 54 field goals (37 percent), seven of 10 free throws (70 percent), 27 rebounds, nine turnovers.
LH 93, H-BC 69
A three-game winning streak came to an end for the Patriots when they ran into a hot-shooting Lincoln HI team in Ivanhoe Friday.
The Rebels drained 57 percent of their field goals in a game that belonged to LH after the first quarter.
H-BC led 21-20 after eight minutes of play, but the Rebels outscored the Patriots 73-48 the rest of the way to win by 24.
LH went on a 30-11 scoring run in the second quarter to open a 50-32 halftime lead that H-BC sliced to 13 points (70-57) by the end of the third quarter. The Rebels iced the contest by outscoring H-BC 23-12 in the fourth quarter.
Metzger scored 20 points, collected eight rebounds and passed for six assists for H-BC. Wiertzema added 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Tyler Bush scored 10 points, distributed six assists and charted four steals. Van Wyhe added six rebounds to the cause.
Box score
Bush 4 0 2-2 10, Wysong 0 0 0-0 0, Jackson 0 0 0-0 0, Roozenboom 3 0 3-4 9, Broesder 0 0 2-2 2, Wiertzema 3 3 3-3 18, Metzger 4 4 0-0 20, Leuthold 1 0 0-2 2, Van Wyhe 3 0 2-4 8, Spykerboer 0 0 0-0 0.
Team statistics
H-BC: 25 of 62 field goals (40 percent), 12 of 17 free throws (71 percent), 30 rebounds, 18 turnovers.
LH: 37 of 65 field goals (57 percent), 11 of 15 free throws (73 percent), 29 rebounds, 19 turnovers.
H-BC 56, Fulda 51
The Patriot boys won their sixth consecutive conference tilt when they bested the Raiders by five points in Fulda Thursday.
The Raiders were billed as one of the RRC’s top teams in the preseason, but surprising H-BC continued to turn the heads of area fans by besting Fulda in its own gym.
H-BC led 11-8 after eight minutes of play before outscoring the Raiders 22-17 in the second quarter to boast a 33-25 advantage at the intermission.
Fulda trimmed the difference to five points (46-41) by the end of the third quarter before falling by five when both teams scored 10 points in the fourth period.
Metzger had another big game for H-BC by leading the Patriots with 26 points and sharing the team lead in rebounding with Leuthold by picking up seven caroms.
Wiertzema contributed 11 points and seven assists to the winning cause. Bush added seven assists, six rebounds and three steals.
Box score
Bush 2 1 1-2 8, Wysong 0 0 0-0 0, Roozenboom 0 0 3-4 3, Wiertzema 0 3 2-9 11, Metzger 4 3 9-14 26, Leuthold 0 0 4-6 4, Van Wyhe 2 0 0-1 4.
Team statistics
H-BC: 15 of 34 field goals (44 percent), 19 of 36 free throws (53 percent), 27 rebounds, five turnovers.
Fulda: 18 of 48 field goals (38 percent), eight of nine free throws (89 percent), 27 rebounds, 15 turnovers.