Hillcrest took a 32-16 halftime lead, by dominating the 1st half on both ends of the floor, but Rothsay came storming back in the second half, at one point cutting the lead to 7. The Comets extended their lead and completed the victory.

“The 1st half of basketball was pretty ugly for us on both ends of the floor,” said Rothsay Head Coach Taylor Fuhs. “We had a ton of turnovers that led to run outs for Hillcrest. But our boys came out of the half and really competed in the 2nd half. This group of boys really grew up this year and their effort was never questioned.”

“We have started many of our games slow offensively this year, but I thought tonight, we looked and felt pretty in sync offensively,” reported Hillcrest Head Coach Ryan Garvin. “It didn't come easy - Rothsay threw some different looks at us defensively to which we had to adjust - but I thought our guys responded really well to their adjustments and got lots of good looks. We pushed the ball well in transition and gave ourselves a lot of good opportunities to score.”

Yuchan Ha had a great first half for the Comets with 10 points and finished with 12 points and 3 assists.  Sam Brumfield scored all 14 of his points in the second half.  Micah Foss finished with 18 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals.  Caden Fischer contributed 9 points.

“Coach Fuhs had his guys engaged in the second half and we couldn't put them away,” noted Garvin. “Colby Larson scored 18 of his 24 and Tanner Heier 11 of his 17 in the second half. They played tough against us. But our guys played a solid all-around game and made enough of the right plays to finish well.”

Larson scored career point number 1,000 on his last shot of his high school career.

“Extremely proud of Colby and his accomplishment,” stated Fuhs.  “He is one of the hardest workers that we have had and I couldn’t be happier for him.  He will be extremely missed next year.”

Hillcrest (12-6) win play at Waubun Saturday at 2:00pm against unbeaten Mahnomen-Waubun (19-0), the top seed in the North half of Section 6A.

Rothsay ends the season with a record of 8-11.