Clay Shewey pummeled the Sterling Black Bears for 27 points to lead the Hillsboro boys to a convincing 63-34 road victory on Friday.
Hillsboro sophomore Taylor Hagen considers his options to shoot or pass against Sterling defender Steven Fankhauser during the first half of Friday’s win.
The Trojan junior gave Hillsboro a parting shot at the end of each quarter. His traditional three-point with 25 seconds left in the open period capped a strong start for HHS that resulted in a 22-7 margin at the break.
Shewey then scored the final two baskets of a sluggish second period—the last one on a steal and layup with 38 seconds left—to cap an 8-2 surge over the last 6:11 that gave Hillsboro a 32-15 halftime lead after Sterling drained two 3-pointers to start the quarter.
Then, with 1.5 seconds left in the third period, Shewey nailed a 3-pointer from the right wing to give the Trojans a 46-26 margin at the break.
He then scored the last eight points of the contest for HHS by sandwiching a drive to the basket with a pair of 3-pointers over a span of 42 seconds. Trojan coach Darrel Knoll rotated in his subs during the final two minutes.
“I thought we were really sharp to start the game,” Knoll said of his team’s performance. “The guys came out fairly intense and purposeful—stuff that we’ve been working at and talking about hard lately.”
A slow second quarter turned out to be a temporary pause in a strong march to victory.
“I thought in the second we got a little quick with the trigger,” Knoll said. “We were moving the ball well, but I thought it was one-pass-and-shoot. That’s one thing we talked about at halftime.”
For the game, Shewey finished with a 10-for-21 shooting night, slightly below the team average of 53 percent (25-47). David Loewen added 14 points, including a perfect 6-for-6 night from the floor, and Daniel Jost broke double figures with 10.
In addition to his point production, Loewen hauled down 13 rebounds to power HHS to a 32-19 advantage off the glass.
“Dave was just an animal on the boards tonight again,” Knoll said. “I thought inside Dave just dominated.”
Though Shewey had the big scoring numbers, Knoll lauded the play of his entire team, especially on defense, where the Trojans limited the home squad to 31 percent shooting.
Knoll said the loss of point guard Kaleb Humphreys to an achilles injury has put Sterling at a disadvantage.
“He’s a great leader, and I think it took a toll for them tonight,” he said. “They just weren’t in sync offensively.”
Coming—Hillsboro was schedule to defend its 5-1 league record and 9-6 season mark at home against Nickerson on Tuesday with an opportunity to avenge a 56-42 loss last month.
The Trojan then finish the week with a tough back-to-back matchup versus Halstead (5-1, 9-6) on Friday and then a makeup game at Wichita Collegiate (6-0, 14-2) on Saturday. The Collegiate game will start around 7 p.m.
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