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Border West shot 49% (25-51) from the field on Saturday afternoon as they defeated the Hillcrest boys’ basketball team 62-53 in Wheaton. Hillcrest fell behind by 13 points in the first half but rallied to cut the halftime deficit to 4 at 35-31. The Comets pulled to within 3 points at 37-34 early in the second half, however, a 17-5 run by the Buccaneers put them ahead by 15 and Hillcrest couldn’t get closer than six points the rest of the way. Border West had 22 assists on their 25 made field goals.
Clint Determan had a big game for the Bucs, scoring 28 points, grabbing 4 rebounds and dishing out 2 assists. Dylan Bainbridge added 8 points, 9 assists and 4 steals and Cole Gilsdorf chipped in with 5 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Andrew Walker and Kyle Kremer each scored 6 points.
“This was a fun competitive game against a very good team,” said Border West Head Coach Jordan Roos. “Our defense tonight was very good for most of the night, especially in the second half. Hillcrest rebounded very well against us which we will have to improve in the future, but we forced a bunch of turnovers and kept care of the ball to counteract our rebounding.”
Hillcrest won the rebounding battle 36-25. The Comets were led by 18 points from Noah Brumfield and 14 from Luke Christensen. Justin Petersen contributed 9 points. Brumfield added 8 rebounds and 3 assists, Christensen had 5 rebounds and 3 assists, and Gabe Swedenburg had 7 boards and 4 assists. Hillcrest shot 39% (20-51) in the game. The Comets had a total of 20 turnovers that led to 18 points for the Bucs. Border West finished with only 9 turnovers on the day.
“Turnovers were the name of the game on Saturday,” said Hillcrest Head Coach Ryan Garvin. “Comparatively, we had more in the 2nd than in the first, but, for me, only being down 4 at half and giving up 6 to 8 transition points, you really wish you could have some of those possessions back. Again, more opportunities for us to have a shot attempt and force Border West to play defense. Credit to their defense though, this is what they do and they are good at it. They made us make decisions and we got tired of making great decisions. Saturday games are often difficult, but i thought our boys came out with very good energy despite coming off of a tough loss on the road at Lake Park the night before. They didn't seem to let that disappointment, or the fact that we had played poorly against this team just under a month ago, carry over to this game. If those things are true, those are great takeaways from this game.”
The Comets (18-7, 12-4 LEC) play their final regular season game at Pelican Rapids on Friday.
Border West (21-2, 14-0 LEC) will host Underwood on Monday and Barnesville on Tuesday.