By John RittenhouseThe Hills-Beaver Creek boys improved their Red Rock Conference basketball record to 7-4 with a 74-47 win over Murray County Central in Hills Tuesday.The home-standing Patriots found themselves trailing 20-19 after eight minutes of play, but they turned things around after that to outscore MCC 55-27 the rest of the night to prevail by 27."We gave up 20 points in the first quarter, and we talked about that at the quarter break," said H-BC coach Steve Wiertzema. "We played a little bit better after that, especially on the defensive end."The Patriots assumed control of the game by outscoring the Rebels 23-9 in the second quarter to open a 42-29 cushion at the intermission.H-BC went on to outscore MCC 17-6 in the third quarter to make it a 59-25 game before using a 15-12 scoring edge in the fourth quarter to pad the final margin of victory to 27 points.H-BC, which made 53 percent of its field goals, received a 21-point effort from Kale Wiertzema. Zach Wysong and Trey Van Wyhe added 16 and 11 points respectively.Wiertzema added 10 assists and five rebounds to the winning cause. Van Wyhe led H-BC with eight rebounds. Wysong snared five rebounds, while Tyler Bush charted six assists, five rebounds and four steals.The 13-7 Patriots host Southwest Star Concept Friday before playing in Round Lake Tuesday.Box scoreBush 1 1 4-4 9, Elbers 0 0 1-2 1, Wysong 2 4 0-0 16, Broesder 1 0 1-2 3, Wiertzema 7 1 4-6 21, Haak 0 0 1-2 1, Van Wyhe 5 0 1-2 11, Spykerboer 2 0 0-0 4, LeBoutillier 4 0 0-0 8.Team statisticsH-BC: 28 of 53 field goals (53 percent), 12 of 18 free throws (67 percent), 28 rebounds, 15 turnovers.MCC: 18 of 50 field goals (36 percent), nine of 15 free throws (60 percent), 18 rebounds, 18 turnovers.
