Unbeaten Hesston burns Trojans for 72 percent from field

By RYAN RICHTER

Sports writer

Pulling off a victory against a team shooting 50 percent on the basketball court is no easy task.

Imagine what 70 percent can do.

With the blistering shooting clinic the Hesston Swathers (6-0, 2-0 MCAA) put on the hosting Hillsboro High School Trojans (4-3, 1-1 MCAA) Friday night in a 63-44 pounding, the Swathers would’ve been hard for anybody to stop.

“They (Hesston) hit some wide open ones, but some of them were contested. They did shoot well,” said a discouraged Trojan coach Darrel Knoll. “It’s pretty tough when a team shoots the three that well, it makes it hard to guard inside out.

“We probably played them about as well as anybody has this year. We can still get there.”

It looked grim for the Swathers to stay unbeaten to start the game.

They missed their first three shots while Hillsboro jumped out to an 8-2 lead and it took Hesston more than five minutes to make its first field goal.

The Trojans’ motor started sputtering, though, and the Swathers caught fire, doubling over Hillsboro, 16-8, with seven straight points.

Too many empty possessions where the Trojans either turned the ball over or took ill-advised shots led to a five-minute stretch with no points.

Hesston led by as many as 12 the first half and Rob Moore’s three gave them a 28-18 lead at the break.

The Trojans went into the half shooting 10-for-18 from the floor, but they only took seven shots the second quarter while Hesston was 10-for-24.

Moore, Michael Janzen, and Taylor Nebel combined to drop 39 points on the Trojans with 13 each.

Clay Shewey scored a game-high 15 points, including a trio of triples to pace the Trojans.

Nathan Vogel brought Hillsboro as close as 28-20 to start the second half before the Swathers broke open the game with another 12-point explosion.

Hesston’s lead would grow to 59-31 with just less than four minutes left in the game before David Loewen scored on a three-point play and Shewey flushed a three.

“I did think we competed well all night. They shot the ball really well and we didn’t execute well enough on offense,” Knoll said. “We had six or seven possessions where we either turned it over, or took not as good of shots as we should’ve and they came down and scored. It was an uphill battle the rest of the night.

“The one thing we’ve got to learn is if we’re going to be a one-pass, two-pass and shoot team, we’re not going to beat teams like this.”

Hillsboro crushes Hoisington

Hillsboro came back after break Jan. 6 with a huge road-victory, crushing Hoisington 70-35, behind a career-high 22 points from Ben Bebermeyer.

Bebermeyer was red-hot from both the floor and outside, knocking down all five of his three-point attempts.

Loewen had a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds while Daniel Jost added 12 points.

The Trojans were able to mail-in the game by halftime, outscoring the Cardinals 22-5 the first quarter, en route to a commanding 45-16 lead at the break.

The Trojans played Smoky Valley Tuesday, and return home Friday for a tough meeting against the formidable Halstead Dragons in a tip-off scheduled for around 8 p.m.