Sophomore Ben Bebermeyer stepped into the starting lineup in the absence of an ill Clay Shewey Tuesday night and lit up Brown Gymnasium for 37 points, leading Hillsboro to a 73-54 win over Haven.
The Hillsboro girls, meanwhile, played an excellent game against state-ranked Haven, but came up short, 34-27.
In the boys? contest, Bebermeyer sent a signal of what was to come by scoring a back-to-back 2-pointer and 3-pointer to put Hillsboro into the lead for good at 5-2. By the end of the quarter he drained two free throws and another 3-pointer for 10 points as Hillsboro led 15-7.
Bebermeyer was quiet in the second quarter until the 2:55 mark, when he hit a 3-pointer at the top of the key, then added another one at the halftime buzzer to push Hillsboro?s margin to 31-16 at intermission.
In the third period, with Haven creeping back into contention with a 5-0 run in the early going, Nathan Vogel hit his second 3-pointer of the evening, then Bebermeyer broke loose with seven consecutive points in just over a minute to give HHS a 44-28 lead, which extended to 51-34 by quarter?s end.
Bebermeyer capped his performance with 10 more points in the fourth quarter before leaving the game to the ovation of the crowd with just over a minute to go.
Though Bebermeyer stole the headline with his scoring, the Trojans played a strong team game, improving to 9-6 for the season and 5-2 in league play.
Haven, led by a 25-point performance by Callon, dropped to 10-5, 2-5.
The girls? game was a battle from the start. Dakota Kaufman struck first blood with a basket 30 seconds in. She proved to be the Trojans? primary scoring threat, finishing with 15 of Hillsboro?s 27 points. But with the defensive battle going on, neither team was scoring much.
Hillsboro led at the end of the first quarter, 9-8. Points were even more rare in the second period, as Haven edged into a 15-12 lead when Paula Stucky scored with 35 seconds left.
In the final 1:36 of the third quarter, Haven got a free throw and a basket by Noell Nordstedt and then a basket by Emily Ostlund to turn an 18-17 deficit into a 22-18 advantage at the final break.
The Trojans were still within one point at 25-24 when Kaufman scored at the 6:36 mark of the final quarter. But Haven pieced together an 8-0 run over the next 4:36 to take control at 33-24. Kaufman added one last Hillsboro basket at the 2:00 mark, but Haven went on to nail down the seven-point win.
With the loss, the Trojans drop to 8-7 for the year and 3-4 in the league while Haven improved to 14-1 and 6-1.
