The Comets shot the ball poorly in the first half, making only 1-of-13 shots from 3-point territory, but their defense was aggressive and successful. 

“We played in the lane pretty well, limited B-E to very few offensive rebounds and committed to our assignments overall,” noted Garvin.  “I thought Gabe Swedenburg, Noah Brumfield and Preston Berge did a fantastic job challenging the ball full court.  The second half was a different story for us.  We were flat coming out of the locker room.  We committed four turnovers in our first five possessions and B-E went on a 17-5 run.  Luckily we stayed in it with our defensive pressure and Erik Bjorndahl hit two big three’s to bring us within one and then put us up for good.”

Hillcrest made 20-of-26 free throws and their ability to hit them down the stretch allowed them to maintain the lead and pull out a hard-fought win.  The Comets finished the game shooting 43.5% for the game and they held a 43-31 edge on the boards, grabbing 21 offensive rebounds.

Noah Brumfield poured in a game high 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting, secured 6 rebounds, dished out 2 assists and came up with a pair of steals.  Luke Christensen registered a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds.  Justin Peterson contributed 9 points, 9 rebound, 3 assists and a steal, and Bjorndahl added 7 points.

Brandon-Evansville shot 48% from the field.  They were led by Micah Fuller (22 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals), Dezmond White (17 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals), Brady Perleberg (4 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 deflections, 2 steals) and Riley Perleberg (5 points, 7 rebounds, 5 offensive rebounds, 2 assists).

“I thought we played exponentially better last night at Hillcrest compared to Tuesday night in Upsala,” said Brandon-Evansville Head Coach Trent Hintermeister. “Our mental effort was much better and we scrapped for everything we got. We played 11 players who all provided something important for us. It's fun to see our depth be such an asset. It was a 3-point game with under 3 minutes left. We had multiple leads throughout the second half, but Hillcrest made a few more plays than us. Coach Ryan Garvin does such a nice job with his team and they deserved to win. We look forward to continuing our improvement as the season progresses.”

Hillcrest (2-0, 1-0 LEC) will host Hancock on Monday night, while Brandon-Evansville (0-2, 0-1 LEC) will open their home season with a Tuesday night game against Parkers Prairie.