“We talked defense almost exclusively in the locker room before the game and I thought that our boys came out with the kind of intensity that we know we need to play with if we're going to contend for anything once we get to playoffs,” stated Hillcrest Head Coach Ryan Garvin. “On nights like tonight when we struggle to play well at the rim and struggle mightily to be tough with the basketball, we will have to play defense like that consistently. We committed a lot of unforced errors tonight, but, fortunately, our defense played really well together and we did enough things right offensively to win.”

Micah Foss paced HLA with 17 points, including 4 3-pointers, and 7 rebounds.  Sam Brumfield finished with 15 points and 3 assists.  Zeke Ihrke had a solid line with 5 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.

“Micah again really set the tone for us again tonight,” noted Coach Garvin. “He had 4 or 5 steals to go along with his 17 points and 7 rebounds. Zeke also rebounded incredibly well for us adding 6 rebounds and another 6 assists. Sam Brumfield also had a really nice game with 3 or 4 steals and a number of deflections to go along with 4 assists. We told him tonight how impressed we have been with his growth as a distributor and ability to find the open guy. One other guy that does NOT get enough attention is Caden Fischer. He might be one of the hardest working we have. His stat line isn't often the prettiest, but we are not who we are without his incredibly dependable defensive effort, his boxing out and his movement away from the basketball. Caden Fischer is a coach's dream player because, his assignments aren't usually flashy, but he just goes out and does what is asked and does it with excellence.”

“The Comets controlled the pace the whole way and dominated the majority of the game,” commented Battle Lake Head Coach Tyler Owen. “They forced double digit Battle Lake turnovers in the first half and went into halftime with a double digit lead.  The Battlers, in typical fashion, made a little run to start the second half and make the game respectable, but once Hillcrest figured out how to break Battle Lake's full court press, they poured it on once again. 

Turnovers and poor half-court defense is what ultimately led to the Battlers losing by double digits.”

Brady VanErp led the Battlers in scoring with 20 points on the night.  He also contributed 5 rebounds and 3 assists.  Owen Buehler had 6 points and Drew Johnson added 4 points and 7 rebounds.

“Brady Van Erp is so dangerous with the ball in his hands so we did what we could to make his evening difficult,” added Coach Garvin of the Comets. “He's so good at going north and south and putting pressure on the defense, so he's going to get some buckets - he's just that good - but, again, Yuchan Ha, Zeke, and Sam made it difficult enough for him and our help defense was solid enough that his distribution options were limited. Great all around team defensive game. Which is what you want to say about your team at this point in the season.”

Hillcrest led the rebounding battle, 38-24 and forced 29 Battle Lake turnovers.  The Comets also turned the ball over 23 times on the night.

Hillcrest (6-4) has won four straight road games and will wrap up their eight game road stretch at Parkers Prairie on Friday night.

Battle Lake (2-8) will host Brandon-Evansville on Friday.