“Incredibly proud of how our guys came out tonight on both ends of the floor,” said Hillcrest Head Coach Ryan Garvin. “They played together so well for significant stretches of this game. After committing 20+ turnovers in Battle Lake, we spent a lot of time talking about and relearning and practicing what it means and feels like to be tough with the basketball. In many ways, I think they did that tonight.”

Hillcrest had a 32-18 lead at halftime.

“We knew that a well-coached Mike Felt team would get after us in the second half, and they did,” noted Garvin. “After getting stops on our first 3 or 4 possessions in the second half, we struggled to get consecutive defensive stops through the next 12-15 possessions. They cut into our double-digit lead, but I was very proud of how our young men kept their composure and kept attacking despite the Panther run.”

Micah Foss led all scorers with 22 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds. Joel Quam had 6 boards to lead the Comets. Yuchan Ha added 5 rebounds, Zeke Ihrke had 9 points, Sam Brumfield had 8 and Yuchan had 7.

Hillcrest will now finish out the regular season with seven straight home games after playing their last eight away from their home gym.  They will match up with Park Christian in a non-conference matchup on Thursday and then play unbeaten Ashby on Friday.  The Comets completed that stretch with an amazing 6-2 record.

Parkers Prairie (7-3) will be at Battle Lake on Tuesday and at Underwood on Friday for a pair of Little Eight Conference contests.