“Great battle tonight in Hancock,” said Hillcrest Head Coach Ryan Garvin.  “It was a really physical game in the paint and on the perimeter and I thought we stayed pretty composed.  The Owls challenged Noah Brumfield all night and it contributed to our lack of rhythm. We also intended to go a bit deeper tonight in terms of minutes with some of our younger guys as we work to see what kind of pieces we have here at the end of the year as we start gearing up for playoffs.  So, our regular rotations were maybe a bit out of sorts, but we’ll live with that.”

Luke Christensen finished with a double-double (21 points, 10 rebounds) and Brumfield had 18 points and 7 rebounds.  Sean Berge finished with 8 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.

“I thought our passing in the first half was often beautiful,” noted Garvin.  “Hancock came out in a zone look and the coaches just watched to see how our boys would respond to it, if they would figure it out, and they did.  We got some great looks at the rim although we smoked some of those layups early.  I think the presence of Chase Evink gave our boys some second thoughts on some of those attempts.”

Leaders for Hancock were Chase Evink and Hudson VerSteeg with 12 points each.  Brayden Kisgen added 9, while Jared Koehl and Jackson Koehl chipped in with 8 apiece.  Evink led the Owls with 9 rebounds and VerSteeg added 8.

“I thought our guys did a good job on Jared Koehl tonight,” concluded Coach Garvin.  “Matthew Knutson did a splendid job challenging him on the perimeter.  He also guarded Evink.  He’s such a versatile defender, such as asset to this yea.  He does so much of the dirty work all over the floor and tonight he finished with 5 rebounds.”

Hillcrest (10-2, 7-1 LEC) has a road game with Brandon-Evansville on Friday.

Hancock (5-6, 3-5 LEC) will play at Ashby on Thursday and at Morris on Saturday.