“I thought we came away from tonight feeling a little bit better about having played our most complete game in this early part of the season,” said Hillcrest Head Coach Ryan Garvin.  “I liked the way we played with good pace and were a lot more patient in our half court decision making.  I thought our defense had many more good team moments that allowed for some big plays and for us to get out in space.”

Nine players contributed points for Hillcrest on the night, with four reaching double digits.  The Comets were led by 16 points from Noah Brumfield, 13 from Preston Berge, 12 from Justin Petersen and 11 from Luke Christensen.  Six players had at least for rebounds for the Comets and Gabe Swedenburg led them with 3 assists.

“We struggled early on with their dribble-handoff and allowing too many drives to the basket,” noted Coach Garvin.  “That, combined with some rough shooting (1-16 from 3-point range), put us up 21-19 with under 5 minutes to play in the first half.  We made some adjustments to put a band aid on it to close out the half on a 16-2 run, which really gave us a nice cushion for the second half.  The second half we really committed our man-to-man defense and spent some extra time and attention on how we did that individually and together as a team.  I’m proud of how we finished tonight and how we played offensively and defensively, together.  Tonight was a step in the right direction.”

Ashby shot 37.5% (18-48) from the field and made only 3-of-16 (19%) from beyond the arc.  Richie Johnson was the only player to reach double figures for the Arrows, scoring 15 points.  Brodie Ecker dished out 4 assists and Kellen Dahlen led the team with 8 rebounds, while adding 7 points.  Jake Norby contributed 6 points and 4 boards.

“The coaching staff was pleased with the competitive spirit our players exhibited tonight,” said Ashby Head Coach John Holsten.  “Hillcrest is a skilled hard-working basketball team.  The way they ended the half and began the second half presented a real challenge for us.  They turned our live ball turnovers during that stretch into easy baskets and we dug ourselves too deep a hole to recover.”

Hillcrest will travel to Wheaton on Thursday to face Border West.

Ashby (2-3) will host Hancock on Thursday.