By John RittenhouseA slow start by the Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots led to a 58-42 loss to Russell-Tyler-Ruthton in a boys’ basketball game played in Tyler Tuesday.H-BC wanted to open the game on a strong note when it took on the R-T-R Knights, the state’s 10th-ranked Class 1A team, on their home floor.The Patriots, however, made one of 12 free throws in the first quarter to dig a hole they weren’t able to climb out of."We had to play from behind the whole game, and we were never able to get over the hump," said H-BC coach Steve Wiertzema. "We buried ourselves right away by shooting one for 11 in the first quarter. We did cut their lead down to five points in the fourth quarter, but then it got away from us again."H-BC’s shooting woes in the first quarter led to an 11-4 deficit that expanded to nine points when the Knights outscored the Patriots 16-14 in the third quarter.The Patriots trailed by 11 points (45-34) heading into the fourth quarter, when they pulled within five points of R-T-R with 4:30 left to play.The Knights met the challenge by outscoring H-BC by 11 points the rest of the night to prevail by 16.Kale Wiertzema and Tyler Bush scored 12 points each for the Patriots. Bush led H-BC with eight rebounds, and Wiertzema set the pace with four assists. Tom LeBoutillier grabbed six rebounds for H-BC.The 6-3 Patriots play in Adrian tonight before hosting Southwest Christian and Lincoln HI Saturday and Tuesday respectively.Box scoreBush 5 0 2-3 12, Broesder 1 0 0-0 2, Wiertzema 2 2 2-4 12, Van Wyhe 4 0 0-4 8, Spykerboer 1 0 0-0 2, LeBoutillier 3 0 0-0 6.Team statisticsH-BC: 18 of 46 field goals (39 percent), four of 11 free throws (36 percent), 25 rebounds, 12 turnovers.R-T-R: 24 of 46 field goals (52 percent), six of eight free throws (75 percent), 22 rebounds, eight turnovers.
