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Dominant West Burlington second half difference maker for Hillcrest Academy in SEISC final
Falcons fire power too much for Ravens in conference tournament final
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
WEST BURLINGTON — Hillcrest Academy came ready to play against West Burlington in the pair’s Southeast Iowa Super Conference top seed showdown on Saturday night.
The Ravens hung right with the high powered Falcons through nearly two quarters, but a lopsided second half put West Burlington on top 76-42 when all was said and done.
Hillcrest Academy brought it right out of the gate. The Ravens took an early 2-0 lead before buckets from Kale Bailey, Rowan Miller and Mason Bender tied what would be the Ravens largest lead of the night at 8-4.
The two squads tied twice the rest of the first period, until the Falcon’s Mason Watkins buried a three at the buzzer to give them a 16-13 lead.
Watkins was a thorn in the Ravens side all night as he poured in 41 points.
The Ravens matched their first quarter energy in the opening stages of the second. A pair of threes from Seth Ours, followed by a jumper from Miller put the Ravens up 23-19.
Things began to shift in the Falcons’ favor, in large part thanks to some stellar defense and Watkins’ offensive ability.
From that point on, the Ravens scored just once more the rest of the quarter. Meanwhile, the Falcons got 10 straight points from Watkins, which sparked a 19-2 run to the end of the first half.
West Burlington scored the final 14 points of the second quarter.
Just like the Ravens, who had a one-point lead at 25-24 past the midway point in the second were down 38-25 at the half.
The West Burlington defense continued to be a problem as Hillcrest was held to just nine points in the third quarter.
In all the Ravens scored just 17 points in the second half, compared to the Falcons 38.
