By John Rittenhouse
In a basketball game involving boys’ teams that rely on their starting fives, it was a reserve that cast the crucial stones during Ellsworth’s 62-59 win over Hills-Beaver Creek in Ellsworth Monday.
Adam Sieff, an EHS junior who has seen his playing time increase in the closing stages of the regular season, scored seven crucial points to lead the Camden Conference champion Panthers to a three-point win over the H-BC Patriots, the champions of the Red Rock Conference.
Ellsworth faced its second seven-point deficit (48-41) of the game when H-BC’s Tyson Metzger buried a pair of free throws in the first minute of fourth quarter before putting together an 11-3 run capped by a field goal from Curt Schilling with 4:28 left to play to give the hosts a 52-51 edge.
The game could have gone to either team at that point, but Sieff was able to swing the momentum in Ellsworth’s favor when he drained a pair damaging three-point shots during a 6-2 surge that gave the Panthers a five-point cushion (58-53) with 2:48 left.
H-BC clawed its way back into contention and trailed 60-59 when Trey Van Wyhe buried a pair of free throws with 49 seconds left. It appeared H-BC had tied the game at 61 when Metzger hit a shot in the lane with 10 seconds left, but the Patriot senior was called for a charging foul that negated the field goal.
Sieff then hit one free throw to make it a 62-59 game with eight seconds left, and the score remained in tact when Metzger’s last-second attempt to tie the game hit the backboard without drawing iron.
The win gives Ellsworth, the No. 1 seed for the South Section 3A Tournament, a 23-2 record heading into post-season play. The Panthers play a quarterfinal-round game against No. 9 Southwest Star Concept or No. 9 Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster at 1 p.m. Saturday in Worthington.
The loss snapped a 12-game winning streak for the Patriots, the No.2 seed for the post-season tourney. H-BC, 19-5, plays No. 7 Edgerton or No. 10 Murray County Central at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in Worthington.
Monday’s game was memorable for Ellsworth senior Dylan Kvaale, who needed five points to reach the 1,000-point plateau for his career. Kvaale hit an early three before coming up with a steal, which was followed by a layup to reach his milestone and give the Panthers a 5-4 edge at the 6:06 mark of the first quarter.
The teams exchanged leads for the rest of the first quarter, which ended with EHS sporting a 15-14 edge.
The second quarter belonged to H-BC as Patriot Kale Wiertzema hit a three-point shot at 5:34 to give H-BC a 25-20 cushion, which was the biggest lead sported by either team at that point of the game.
Ellsworth closed the gap to three points (33-30) before Metzger made a pair of free throws and H-BC reserve Clint Roozenboom produced a steal that lead to his layup with eight seconds left in the first half to give the Patriots a 37-30 advantage.
Ellsworth pulled to within two points of H-BC (39-37) in the third quarter before Wiertzema capped a 5-0 run with a free throw with 4.5 seconds remaining to give the Patriots a 46-39 lead. Brant Deutsch hit a jumper at the buzzer for EHS to make it a 46-41 difference heading into the fourth quarter.
Deutsch recorded a double-double for the winners with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Kvaale scored 16 points and distributed six assists. Schilling added 15 points and grabbed six rebounds. Tom Janssen and Travis Jenniges contributed six and five assists to the winning cause.
Metzger and Wiertzema netted 16 and 15 points to pace H-BC. Tyler Bush, who had seven assists and three steals, drained 10 consecutive free throws to highlight a 12-point performance. Jesse Leuthold led H-BC with five rebounds.
Box score
H-BC
Bush 1 0 10-10 12, Roozenboom 2 0 0-0 4, Wiertzema 4 1 4-6 15, Metzger 4 1 5-5 16, Leuthold 2 0 0-0 4, Van Wyhe 3 0 2-2 8.
Ellsworth
Schilling 6 1 0-0 15, Jenniges 1 0 0-1 2, Janssen 2 0 1-1 5, Kvaale 4 2 2-2 16, Sieff 1 2 1-2 9, Deutsch 4 1 4-10 15, Brommer 0 0 0-0 0.
Team statistics
H-BC: 18 of 43 field goals (42 percent), 21 of 24 free throws (88 percent), 20 rebounds, 10 turnovers.
Ellsworth: 24 of 46 field goals (52 percent), eight of 16 free throws (50 percent), 25 rebounds, 13 turnovers.
