Victory eludes Trojans in 59-52 slugfest
Through 21 years at Hillsboro High School, Trojan boys basketball coach Darrel Knoll has seen it all.
From three Class 3A state championship wins, en route to racking up 389 victories all the way down to a few, rare subpar seasons.
Calling the 2009-10 season a rarity would be putting it lightly.
Despite showing signs that they’re capable of putting a good game together, finding a way to do it consistently has been a tall order and the Trojans have been hard pressed to get solid offense.
With Friday night’s game against a team Knoll has rarely struggled with — the hosting Sterling Black Bears — the Trojans’ walk down memory lane continued.
Hillsboro has been haunted all year by its inability to close out games, letting winnable games slip away and Friday night was the same old story.
The Black Bears outslugged the Trojans, 59-52, capturing their first MCAA league win.
Friday’s loss was the Trojans’ third of the week. The Trojans are now 2-13 and 0-6 in the MCAA.
The Trojans may get one last crack at the Black Bears, though, next month at the Sterling sub-state tournament.
Nearly 24 hours removed from dropping a 53-43 game to the Hoisington Cardinals, the Trojans stayed right with the Black Bears.
After the first quarter, the Black Bears led, 16-14.
The Trojans used a 14-9 second quarter to grab a 28-27 lead at the break.
The familiar problem of being unable to protect the lead caught up with Hillsboro in the second half as the Black Bears took over, 34-30.
Hillsboro regained the lead again, but another 7-0 run gave Sterling a 41-38 edge to start the fourth quarter and control the remainder of the game.
Ben Bebermeyer scored a team-high 14 points and Jesse Allen and Nathan Vogel added 10 each.
The week got off to a rough start Feb. 2 with the Trojans tumbling at home to the Lyons Lions, 53-35.
This week gets tougher starting with Tuesday’s road game at Haven and concluding Friday in Hillsboro against the Nickerson Panthers.
Friday’s tipoff is set for 8 p.m.