Indians battle to 6-point win over Tigers

HILLSBORO — Having a one-point scoring differential at halftime, the Indians built an 11-point lead to start the fourth quarter, but McClain battled to get back to within three points with 31 seconds left in the game. 

Though the Tigers had a chance to tie the score, eventually the Indians made late free throws to seal their 46-40 victory for their second win in the Frontier Athletic Conference this season on senior night. 

Hillsboro (2-8, 6-15) gained their second win of the season against McClain (0-9, 5-13) by playing close with their Highland County rival, as it was McClain leading after the first quarter 17-14. 

“I thought (McClain) came out with a good game plan, basically doubling our guards, and we had to be able to make some adjustments, and even with that it was hard for us to score points against them,” Hillsboro head coach Josh Howland said. “They (MHS) played hard, and they always do. That’s the thing about the rivalry, they always play hard.

“It was a 1-3-1 matchup, and we talked about it, and eventually we ran some of our offenses against it and they ran it pretty well.”

The Tigers were first to put points on the board as freshman Lucas Banks made the first of his five 3-pointers of the game, for an early 3-0 lead. Banks finished the game with a career-high of 18 points (four 3-pointers) in just his second start of the season. Before that, his best scoring game was 12 points against Clinton-Massie (Feb. 10). 

McClain took a 5-0 lead following a bucket from junior Elijah Storer, and after the Indians had two free throws converted by junior Jack Howland — who became Hillsboro’s all-time leading scorer earlier this week — Banks sank another 3-pointer for MHS with 6:10 on the clock for an 8-2 lead. Howland finished the game with 22 points, making one 3-pointer, four two-point baskets and he was 11-of-11 from the free-throw line, while adding 10 rebounds for a double-double, plus one block. 

Hillsboro senior Jeven Hochstuhl (who finished with five points, three rebounds and three steals) came back with a 3-pointer, then a jumper for a one-point deficit for HHS, and as the quarter continued it was a 3-pointer from senior Brady Juillerat at the 4:43 mark for a 10-8 Indians lead. 

MHS kept battling in the opening frame with a basket by Storer, then two free throws made by senior Jordan Bell that pushed the Tigers back in front at 12-10 with 2:57 left in the high-impact first frame. Storer and Bell each finished the game with nine points. 

The points kept being added to the scoreboard as Banks made his third 3-pointer of the first quarter, and then he made 2-of-3 shots from the free-throw line, giving the Tigers a 17-12 lead with 44 seconds left on the clock. HHS ended the first with two free throws made by senior Zack Brown (two points, three rebounds, one assist, one steal) for the 17-14 score with McClain in front after the first frame. 

HHS regained the lead with 3:23 left in the second as they scored the first four points of the frame off two free throws by Howland, and at the aforementioned 3:23 mark Howland scored two points in the paint off a layup for the 18-17 advantage. 

Sophomore Matthew Cummins brought the Tigers back in front against the Indians following a 3-pointer with 2:59 until halftime. HHS answered with five straight points off two free throws by Howland, a basket by sophomore Dawson Barnett and a free throw made by Juillerat for a three-point lead at 23-20. Barnett totaled eight points with two rebounds and one steal. Juillerat totaled seven points and seven rebounds. 

The Tigers got back to within one point of the Indians by scoring the final points of the first half with a long shot for two points by sophomore Brady Binegar for the 23-22 halftime score. Binegar ended the game with four points.

“We've really tried to regroup this past week and just meet with it like a team and talk about what we need to work on and how, and the mentality we have to have taking the floor, and I thought tonight we finally did it,” McClain head coach Jarrod Haines said. “We took the floor like we came over here and we wanted to beat Hillsboro, and unfortunately, we came up short, but our effort was fabulous, any kid that got on the court. 

“We're trying to get a lot of kids opportunities right now, just down the stretch. You lose a player like Hudson Lovett, nine points a game, eight and a half rebounds a game, that's a lot. You’ve got to fill the gaps with certain other guys.”

Hillsboro extended their lead to nine points when the third frame ended with that high of a lead happening twice in the frame, the first time being at the 4:23 mark of the quarter following a three-point play by Juillerat for a 33-24 Indians advantage. 

The Indians gained the previous nine-point lead with a 3-pointer from Howland to start the third frame, and then he scored the next four points with two free throws and an off-balanced basket. After Banks scored two points in the paint for the Tigers, then came the three-point play by Juillerat for the first nine-point lead of the quarter. 

MHS got the lead down to four points with a Bell 3-pointer and two points by Storer, but eventually a basket by Barnett, a jumper from Howland and a jumper by Barnett with 18 seconds left in the third left the Indians ahead at 39-30 entering the fourth quarter. 

HHS senior Mason Dumpert (two points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals) started the fourth with a layup at the 3:49 mark, returning to the game after previously injuring his finger earlier in the game. The Tigers came back with a basket by Bell, two points off free throws by Binegar and a steal with a layup from Bell with 1:49 left in the fourth frame for a 41-36 score, getting McClain back to within five points of tying the score. 

“I think we've had some guys really step up, and I'm super proud of them. I thought Jordan Bell displayed the greatest floor leadership he probably has all year, and I'm super proud of him for that,” Haines said. “That's what we're trying to teach. We're trying to find leaders to lead these guys, and it's not easy when you're in five and whatever. I thought Jordan Bell led us really well tonight, and then, you got to play a freshman, Lucas Banks, who has come and shot the ball extremely well. 

“He's going to be a player. Lucas loves basketball. He's in the gym all the time. I really wanted to get him out there earlier in the year. I just didn't think he was ready. He's played JV for us all year, and he is blossoming at the right time. He started up at Clinton-Massie, and he had 12, so he's played really well. Teams know what to do. They're going to take away Jordan, and Banks has really stepped up.”

Howland pushed the Indians’ lead to seven points, but the Tigers made important free throws with two each from Storer and Banks for a 43-40 score. MHS regained possession of the ball after a MHS player was elbowed in the face and the Indians were called for an intentional foul while McClain trailed by three points with 31 seconds left in regulation. 

The Tigers attempted a 3-pointer, but it didn’t fall through the hoop, and the Indians grabbed the rebound. Following an intentional foul called on the Tigers with 20.3 left, HHS eventually finished the game by making three more free throws on four attempts to gain the six-point win. 

“I thought we did a good job in that zone. The kids talked, and they found out where Howland was. He’s a great player who killed us last time. I thought we slowed him down a lot better this time, trying to make other guys beat us. He's a heck of a player. I mean, there's a reason he's got 1,200 points as a junior,” Haines said. “I think we had two freshmen, a senior and two sophomores on the floor there at one time, so the future’s bright, but we're not playing for the future right now.”

HHS outrebounded the Tigers, 30-12. The Indians also had team totals of four assists, seven steals and one block. 

In the JV game, the Tigers defeated the Indians by a 29-17 score. The MHS JV team scoring included: Gavin Anderson (12), Leiland Bond (7), Bentley Marsh (4), Bryson Bihl (3), Janson Allison (2) and Colton Lamb (1).; 

Hillsboro’s JV scoring included: Logan Kibler (5), Ryker Snyder (4), Luke Thompson (4), Gaige Greer (2) and Zach Smith (2). 

The freshman game saw McClain defeat Hillsboro 31-20 in two quarters. MHS was led by Holden Clendaniel with 12 points, and the rest of the freshman Tigers scoring included: Janson Allison (8), Jax Vanzant (2), Holden Lyons (2) and Bryson Bihl (7).
 
Hillsboro’s freshmen were led by Brayden Cummings with nine points, and the rest of their scoring included Ryker Snyder (6) and Hunter Seeling (5). 

The Indians have one regular-season game left on their schedule, a makeup game on Friday, Feb. 20 at home against Highland County counterpart, the Fairfield Lions (11-6). 

McClain has three regular-season games left on their schedule: at Vinton County (Feb. 14), at Miami Trace (Feb. 16), and at East Clinton (Feb. 17). 

“We're playing to end this season the right way and battle every night. I thought tonight we did that. We play a really tough schedule, and that's no excuse. We’ve got to figure it out and learn how to get better. We don't have time to stop on this one. We will come right back tomorrow. We’ve got Vinton County. 

“We go on the road, but, you know, I told them in the locker room, if you play like that, good things will happen, and we're going to get one of these, and these kids need to be rewarded because they're putting in the work for sure,” Haines said. “You can't control everything in life, and we're teaching life lessons, so you’ve got to learn how to bounce back and figure it out and get better. I'm just proud of my kids for coming over here, competing, and that's the culture we're trying to build.

“We put a lot of time into this, and it's a long season, sometimes it'll be frustrating, but I thought tonight, even though the loss on the scoreboard, we had a lot of wins in our goals, and we had a lot of wins with the kids we got out there did some really good things. Wins and losses aren't always up there on the scoreboard.”

BOX SCORE
MHS    17 05 08 10 — 40
HHS    14 09 16 07 — 46

HILLSBORO (46) — J.Howland 4 (1) 11-11 22, D.Barnett 3 (0) 2-2 8, B.Juillerat 1 (1) 2-2 7, J.Hochstuhl 1 (1) 0-0 5, Z.Brown 0 (0) 2-2 2, M.Dumpert 1 (0) 0-2 2. TOTALS: 10 (3) 17-19 46. 

MCCLAIN (40) — L.Banks 1 (4) 4-7 18, E.Storer 3 (0) 3-6 9, J.Bell 2 (1) 2-2 9, B.Binegar 1 (0) 2-2 4. TOTALS: 7 (5) 11-17 40. 

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Indians drop game to Huntington 

The Hillsboro Indians had opportunities late to take the lead late in their game against the Huntington Huntsmen on Tuesday, Feb. 10, but ultimately the Indians lost the road non-conference contest by a 56-52 score at Huntington High School. 

The Indians were led in the scoring column by Jack Howland with 35 points as he made six 3-pointers and eight two-point baskets, plus he was 1-of-3 from the free-throw line. Howland also added eight rebounds, three assists and five steals to his final totals. 

Mason Dumpert finished with seven points, four rebounds and one assist. Brady Juillerat ended the game with five points, two rebounds and one assist. Easton Inman totaled three points, one rebound and one steal. HHS also had Jeven Hochstuhl finish with two points, two assists, and two steals. Dawson Barnett ended the game with five rebounds and two steals, while teammate Zack Brown grabbed one rebound. 

HHS totals were 11 two-point baskets, nine 3-pointers (Howland 6, Dumpert 1, Juillerat 1, Inman 1), 21 rebounds (seven offensive), seven assists, and 10 steals.