Here’s Coach Garvin’s quarter-by-quarter recap of the action.

“In the first quarter, we settled for some early threes that played right into the pace that Hankinson was hoping to play. As we settled in, our shot selection definitely got better. Noah Brumfield set the tone for us scoring 12 of his 18 in the quarter. Although our defense gave up 12 in the quarter, I thought we did a lot of the things we talked about heading into the game and Hankinson just hit some big shots. 

The second quarter was a different story. Our shot selection was much improved in the second quarter. Luke Christensen got some great looks and Leo Nordick had a big offensive rebound and put-back. Lincoln Nash hit a beautiful inside-out three from Sean Berge, but I thought we played a lot more tentative defensively in the second half and we gave up far too many offensive rebounds to Hankinson that gave them life heading into half.

Coming into the second half, I liked our focus offensively and taking away Raeshaun Earl a little more specifically. Unfortunately, we had some momentary lapses defensively that led to giving up the lead for the first time since mid-way through the second corner. We had a hard time overcoming some 3rd quarter adversity. 

In the 4th quarter, we struggled to knock down our free throws and Hankinson hit some big shots to hold a couple of three-point leads. Down the stretch, Noah Brumfield hit two big free-throws to tie the game at 53 with just under 30 seconds left. Our team was able to put together a last, regulation stand and force Earl into a tough 16 footer and send the game to overtime.

In the overtime, Luke had 6 of our 8 points and we were able to hold Hankinson scoreless thanks to some superb on-ball defense by Gabriel Swedenburg on the perimeter and some timely defensive rebounds from Gabe, Preston Berge and Ethan Swedberg.”

Luke Christensen joined the 1000 point club at Hillcrest, when he knocked down his first bucket of overtime by blocking a shot on one end, sprinting down the floor and getting the ball back from Swedenburg for a finish at the rim.  “Congratulations to Luke on a very special feat on a very special night in front of a hometown crowd in Wahpeton/Breckenridge,” said Garvin.

Christensen finished with a game high 23 points and Brumfield added 18.  Nash chipped in with 9 points.

“I think we learned some new things about ourselves tonight that will be valuable as we continue to inch our way closer to playoff time,” noted Garvin.

Hankinson was led by Raeshaun Earl with 23 points and Cooper Boll with a dozen.

“Thanks to Coach Park Masterson and the crew at NDSCS for hosting the night,” concluded Coach Garvin.

Hillcrest (20-3, 15-0 LEC) will try to complete a perfect Little Eight Conference season with a win on their home floor Tuesday against Battle Lake.