By John Rittenhouse
A fourth-quarter eruption for the Ellsworth boys’ basketball team carried the Panthers to an 83-63 win over the Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots in Hills Friday.
The game was tight through three quarters before Ellsworth took control by outscoring the Patriots 30-16 in the final eight minutes of play to prevail by 20.
"We really didn’t do anything different in the fourth quarter," said Panther coach Ken Kvaale. "We just kept executing our offense, and kept on believing in ourselves. It seemed like they were a little worn down at the end of the game."
The Patriots, who took a three-game winning streak into the tilt, were in a position to upset the state’s ninth-ranked team when they trailed the Panthers by six points (53-47) heading into the fourth quarter.
Ellsworth, however, used strong play in the fourth quarter by Dylan Kvaale and Curt Schilling to win by a comfortable 20-point margin.
Kvaale drained a trio of three-point shots and scored 11 of his 21 points in the decisive fourth quarter. Kvaale also had eight rebounds and seven assists in the game.
Schilling, who scored a game-high 36 points and pulled down 16 rebounds, contributed 10 points to the fourth-quarter surge.
To their credit, the 4-3 Patriots played with the Panthers in the first three periods.
Ellsworth sported 18-17, 38-34 and 53-47 leads at the first three quarter breaks.
Brant Deutsch had eight rebounds and six assists to the winning cause. Blake Brommer added six assists for Ellsworth, which improved to 11-1 with the win.
Tyson Metzger burned the nets for 29 points for H-BC.
Tyler Bush scored 13 points and recorded six assists and three steals for the Patriots. Kale Wiertzema had six assists and four rebounds, while Trey Van Wyhe added four rebounds.
Box score
Ellsworth
Schilling 14 0 8-9 36, Jenniges 2 0 0-2 4, Janssen 0 1 1-3 4, Kvaale 3 4 3-6 21, Sieff 1 1 0-0 5, Deutsch 3 0 1-2 7, Brommer 1 0 2-3 4, Myhrer 1 0 0-0 2.
H-BC
Bush 4 1 2-4 13, Wysong 0 0 0-0 0, Roozeboom 0 0 2-4 2, Broesder 0 0 0-0 0, Wiertzema 2 0 4-4 8, Metzger 5 3 10-11 29, Leuthold 1 0 1-2 3, Van Wyhe 4 0 0-0 8.
Team statistics
Ellsworth: 31 of 56 field goals (55 percent), 15 of 25 free throws (60 percent), 42 rebounds, nine turnovers.
H-BC: 20 of 52 field goals (39 percent), 19 of 25 free throws (76 percent), 19 rebounds, four turnovers.