Indians defense downs Ravens

KALONA - Friday's Super Conference North Division battle looked pretty even on paper, but Wapello's fourth quarter gave it a 53-42 win over Hillcrest.

Last season, Wapello was 9-12 overall, 8-8 North while Hillcrest was 11-10, 9-7. Both teams lost two seniors including one each who started every game. Hillcrest lost another who started half the games while Wapello lost one who took three shots all year.

'I think they are probably the most experienced team in the league and they are good at every position, which should have forced us to play with a lot less errors than we did,” Hillcrest head coach Dwight Gingerich said. 'We knew it was going to be a great challenge.”

The Ravens were up to the challenge early, trailing 13-12 at the end of the first quarter.

A perfectly timed alley-oop from Eli Ours to John Hughes, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds in the game, tied the game at 16-16 and an Ours 3-pointer gave the Ravens a lead at 19-18. It was the last time they had it.

Trailing 23-21 at half, the Ravens got to within 28-27 on two free throws by Noah Miller, who scored six in the game, but it was 33-30 at the end of the third. A triple from Wapello's Trenton Murray, who finished with 19 points, made it 38-32. Ours' and Hughes' hit back-to-back buckets to get within 38-36, prompting a timeout by Wapello with 4 minutes, 35 seconds left in the game. Maddox Griffin scored two of his game-high 22 out of the timeout. Hughes' basket with 2:30 got the Ravens to 42-38, but an 11-4 run closed the game as the Indians went over the top of the Ravens' press.

'Our effort was there, but, at times, our execution was not,” Gingerich said. 'We have to do a better job with our passes, getting the ball where it needs to go.”

Wapello's length playing a stifling, active, physical defense was part of the problem with the passes. A 14-player roster has just four under 6-foot.

'They have some experienced players,” Gingerich said. 'We gave up too many offensive boards.”

Ours finished with 17 for the Ravens.