ORIGINALLY WRITTEN BY DON RATZLAFF
The Hillsboro Trojans split their games with Wichita Collegiate tonight in Wichita.
The BOYS played toe-to-toe with the second-ranked Spartans for a quarter, but Collegiate simply had too much firepower and too many fresh legs as they defeated Hillsboro 69-52. The game ended a seven-game Hillsboro winning streak against their archrivals.
Hillsboro (5-3), playing aggressive defense and executing well offensively, led the Spartans 21-18 after the opening period.
But Collegiate came back strong in the second quarter behind eight points by reserve guard Justin Elkouri to propel the undefeated Spartans to a 38-28 halftime advantage.
Collegiate led 42-28 two minutes into the third quarter before the Trojans went on a 9-0 run to close the gap to five points. But Collegiate answered the challenge with a 11-0 run of their own to all but put the game away.
Collegiate’s two-platoon offensive strategy wore out the Trojans in the end, and Hillsboro could not find the energy to pull themselves back into the game.
Tyson Ratzlaff scored 14 points to lead Hillsboro.
Meanwhile, the GIRLS put together perhaps their most impressive first half of the year on the way to an easy 56-21 blowout of the home team. The Trojans, picking up numerous turnovers off their pirhana-like defense, rolled to an 18-6 lead after one period and then lengthened the lead to 36-7 at intermission.
Most of the second half was played under the 30-point continuous-clock rule.
Angela Kroeker scored 14 points, all in the first half, to lead Hillsboro. Jill Hein added 13 for the 7-1 Trojans.
