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Washington Evening Journal
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Wildcats claw past Huskies
Former Highland coach Marcus Hall beats old team for first league win
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
COLUMBUS — Former Highland head coach Marcus Hall faced his old team on Tuesday night, as the Columbus boys basketball team welcomed in the rival Huskies for Southeast Iowa Super Conference North Division action.
Despite a fierce second-half comeback by the visiting Huskies, Columbus survived the night 64-55 to pick up its first conference win of the season.
“I thought about this game a lot prior to the day of,” said Coach Hall. “But I woke up this morning not thinking about it quite as much as I thought I would have. I was worried about Columbus getting a win.”
The Wildcats led 19-15 after one quarter and 38-28 at halftime, but Highland came surging back in the third quarter, eventually erasing the Columbus advantage. The Wildcats, however, bounced back to take a 49-46 lead after three and put the Huskies away in the fourth.
“It was a game of runs,” Hall said. “We were coming off a couple of tough games against Central Lee and Hillcrest, so to see them pin their ears back and continue to make plays just shows their guts.”
Ellis Hills-Carrier scored 18 points to lead Columbus. Fritz Figaro had 14 points. Drake Marin finished with 11. Juan Chairez had nine. Ryan Coil scored eight, and Drew Totemeier ended with five.
For Highland, it was a much better result than a 39-point loss against Hillcrest Academy in the opener, but Coach Bill Zywiec says his team isn’t quite where it needs to be yet.
“We've just got to continue to play hard,” Zywiec said. We've talked about continuing to not make those mental mistakes late in the ballgame. We've got to overcome that."
Highland’s Louis Horak scored 16 points in the loss. Bryce Hazelett finished with 13. Logan McFarlnd and William Dunbar each had five. Landon Roling and Jacob Schneider scored three each, and both Jared Diaz and Colten Sypherd scored two.
OTHER AREA SCORES
WACO 59, Louisa-Muscatine 34
Hillcrest Academy 61, Winfield-Mount Union 37
West Burlington 91, Van Buren County 51
Centerville 72, Cardinal 35
Keotaa 81, English Valleys 37
