Familiar woes trip Trojan boys in loss to Hesston
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports Writer
Trojan coach Darrell Knoll is beginning to sound like a broken record when describing his Hillsboro boys' basketball team's struggles this season — turnovers and missed free throws, turnovers and missed free throws
"It's the same story every game; we play them solid, then the last couple of minutes, things seem to go the opposite direction," Knoll said.
Both flaws were big culprits again Friday as the Trojans tumbled, 54-43, on the road to the good, but beat-able Hesston Swathers.
As of this week, Hillsboro was 6-8 before playing Collegiate Tuesday at home. On Friday, at about 7:30 p.m., the Trojans host the Sterling Black Bears.
At Hesston, the Trojans lost another game that might have turned out otherwise had Hillsboro been able to execute offensively, make free throws, and take care of the ball.
Senior Lucas Hamm did all he could, scoring a game-high 21 points, with 12 in the first half. But Hesston answered with 18 points from Lee-Voth-Gaeddert and 16 more from Petrocci.
"Lucas played hard, he really did a lot of good things, he boarded, but we've got to get some help from some of the other guys," a discouraged Knoll said. "We've got to find ways to play to win when the game is on the line."
The Trojans missed their first four shots of the game, which led to 3-of-12 shooting in the first quarter. Hesston jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the game's first 3:30.
Even with their sluggish start, the Trojans trailed by only one, 22-21, at halftime.
Hillsboro led only twice in the entire contest. And the first came on the first basket of the second half, when Hamm hit a three-pointer to give the Trojans a 24-22 lead. But turnovers killed the Trojans and gave Hesston too many chances.
Even so, the game still was up in the air with 2:45 left and the Trojans down 41-40.
The Swathers hit 10-of-11 free throws in the fourth quarter, and outscored Hillsboro, 13-3, in the final minutes of the game.
