“Very proud of Sam on his accomplishment,” said Hillcrest Head Coach Ryan Garvin.  “Quite a milestone in 3 years and with a COVID-shortened season.  I loved how he didn’t want any fanfare and simply wanted to focus on winning the game with his teammates and preparing for the playoffs.”

Justin Peterson and Noah Brumfield added 15 and 11 points, respectively, as the Comets had 3 players in double figures.

“Started all of our available seniors tonight and they did a good job of being patient on the offensive end and playing good defense on that end of the floor,” stated Garvin.  “We had a hard time finding a rhythm in the first half and simply traded baskets with Battle through much of that first half.  It wasn’t until the final five minutes that we really played tough ‘D’ and got into a little bit of transition.  Through that stretch I think we ended up with a 14-4 run which gave us a little bit of comfort to come out in the second half.  I though we shared the ball better in the second half and definitely got more defensive stops in the second half that helped us establish and maintain an 18-20 point lead for much of the half.”

Battle Lake was led by Jack Mekalson with 21 points and Noah Mansker with 11.

“I’m very proud of the way we’ve come out of the 9-day game hiatus,” added Coach Garvin.  “We still have a lot of work to do on the defensive end, but we know the problems and our boys are determined to address them.”

Hillcrest (17-6, 10-1 LEC) will host Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley on Monday and Lake Park-Audubon on Tuesday, before closing out their regular season with their final conference game at Underwood on Friday.

Battle Lake (9-13, 6-6 LEC) is at West Central Area on Tuesday and at home against Park Christian on Thursday.