Trojans boys continue win streak over Warriors

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
The tide hasn’t changed just yet.

Hillsboro boys doused Marion’s hopes for a win against their intra-county rivals with a tidal wave of defense on the way to a solid 68-36 victory in Friday’s season opener at Marion.

The Warriors’ hope of breaking an 11-year losing streak against the Trojans looked legitimate in the early moments of the game.

A basket by Joe Svitak, two free throws and a 3-pointer by Nickolas Hett and a pair of free throws by Jared Hett gave the Warriors a 9-2 lead midway through the quarter.

But a Trojan timeout ignited a 14-0 Hillsboro run over the next three minutes for a 16-9 lead. Fueling the charge was Eric Weinbrenner with back-to-back 3-pointers midway through.

“We started off a little bit shaky-part of it was we weren’t doing what we’ve been practicing because of first-game jitters,” Trojan coach Darrel Knoll said. “We turned up the pressure when we got down 9-2 and that was really the difference.”

The quarter ended with Hillsboro up by 10 points, 21-11.

The two teams played a back-and-forth game in the second quarter with the Trojans taking a 33-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.

“We were only down 13 at halftime and hadn’t done anything offensively, so we didn’t feel too badly,” Marion coach Rex Ostmeyer said. “Only three of our guys had really had varsity experience, and we had some guys who were trying to get their feet wet. So we felt OK at halftime.

“We just needed to get going offensively.”

The Trojans had other intentions, however.

Turning up the defensive heat one more notch, the Trojans limited the Warriors to 1-of-7 shooting while hitting eight of 17 shots on the other end of the floor. By the time the smoke cleared at the end of the quarter, Hillsboro had taken control, 54-24.

“I felt like they played with us for a while, but in the third quarter we just really turned on the pressure,” Knoll said.

Ostmeyer agreed: “The third quarter was just a disaster for us. They hit some threes and we just turned it over to them time and time again. When the lead got up to 20, it was just us trying to whittle it back a little and take some gambles.”

Neither team shot particularly well to start the final quarter. Hillsboro made only three of nine shots from the field over the first 4:30. Even so, the Trojans increased their margin to 32 points, 60-28, as the Warriors managed only one field goal in seven shots during the same span.

“Offensively, we just struggled all night long,” Ostmeyer said. “My three best players -Jared Hett, Tyler Stubenhofer and Clayton Chamberland-combined for one field goal. When that happens, we’re going to be in trouble.

“We probably had twice as many turnovers as we did field goals,” he added. “We just never got into any type of rhythm. Their size and their aggressiveness had a lot to do with that.”

Knoll agreed with that assessment.

“Defense was the key,” he said. “We were able to jump into the passing lanes and put some pressure on them. I was really pleased with what we did, especially after the initial four or five minutes.

“For the most part, I thought we played a disciplined ball game,” Knoll added. “A couple of times it got a little ragged, but we were able to get back and run some offense, and we really played well together.”

The Trojan defense contributed to Marion’s 24 percent shooting for the night, including a frosty 2-of-10 from behind the arc.

Nickolas Hett finished with a team-high 12 points while Dale Vogel added nine. Both players were making their first substantive varsity appearances.

“Dale Vogel gave us a big lift,” Ostmeyer said of the 6-feet 2-inch junior. “He’s one of the few guys that has some size that we may be able to use (the rest of the season).”

The Trojans, meanwhile, shot 65 percent (13 of 20) inside the arc and 45 percent (nine of 20) beyond it for a game average of 55 percent.

Weinbrenner was the Trojans’ high scorer with 16 points, including 4-of-10 shooting from 3-point territory and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.

Tyler Peachey also finished in double figures for Hillsboro with 13 points. He also pulled down seven rebounds. Derek Hamm led the team with eight rebounds.

The best thing Ostmeyer saw in his team was its fight.

“I think the biggest thing was even though we were kind of bumbling and stumbling offensively, our kids were still playing hard to the final buzzer,” he said. “Nickolas Hett was diving for a loose ball with 10 seconds left on the clock.”

Coming-The Trojans will be back in action at Wichita Collegiate on Friday. Tip-off will be around 8 p.m. The following Tuesday, they will travel to Hesston.

The Warriors will participate in the Inman Tournament this week. They were scheduled to play at Burrton on Tuesday, then will travel to Inman to play the hometown Teutons on Thursday and St. John on Friday.

The following Tuesday, the Warriors will open Cottonwood Valley League play at Chase County.

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