HILLSBORO: Trojans wallop Ellinwood, fall to Central
Boys' team wallops Ellinwood Tuesday
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
At the top of Trojan coach Darrell Knoll's Christmas wish list had to be for some consistent play from his team.
As 2002 came to an end, the only thing consistent about the boys' play was their inconsistency.
They had to dig down deep to hold off a dangerous Smoky Valley team in the year-end finale, a team Hillsboro, in other years, would have breezed by.
Apparently, Santa Claus didn't deliver to the Trojans and Knoll.
The Trojans looked like the same team Friday night in the first game after the post-holiday break at home against the winless Class 5A Salina-Central Mustangs.
Hillsboro shot a ragged 31 percent from the field while getting outrebounded 32-25 as the Mustangs picked up their first win of the season, dealing the Trojans a 49-42 punch in the gut.
"We're just inconsistent," a disgusted Knoll said. "The second quarter we turned the ball over too much; we took shots that were rushed too much. We had nobody going for the rebound; you're not going to score too many points doing that.
"We're not shooting well. When we're not shooting well, that really makes it tough on us."
That's no lie.
Hillsboro hit eight for 23 inside, missing many costly high percentage shots and offensive rebounds.
The Mustangs flourished on second-chance baskets, racking up 12 points off 11 offensive rebounds.
The loss leaves Hillsboro, a team projected to be amongst Class 3A's top five, struggling to find consistency at 3-2 overall.
Losing to the Mustangs on the football field would have made more sense than on the basketball court.
Especially with Hillsboro opening the game red-hot from downtown, draining a perfect four-for-four from behind the arc.
With just under 2:00 left in the first frame, the Trojans had a commanding 20-9 lead with Tyler Weinbrenner scoring six of his team-high 11 points in the game's first 2:00.
Dustin Jost tied Weinbrenner for high-scoring honors, including a pair of triples.
But the Trojans must have used up all their ammunition early, finishing the game shooting an icy seven for 25 from three-point range.
The Mustangs used an 11-0 run to knot the game at 20-20, holding Hillsboro to a sole field goal in the second quarter and scoreless for better than 6:00 to take a 25-24 lead at intermission.
A good sum of Central's 13-second quarter points came from easy baskets, a big reason the Mustangs hit 50 percent from the floor and 47 percent overall.
"The second quarter I didn't think we played up to our capabilities," Knoll said. "I thought we gave up some easy ones because we weren't jumping as hard to the ball as we did the first quarter.
"The first quarter we played great defense, just tremendous. We reacted on the pass; we did a lot of good things. In the second quarter, we just didn't. We did it for a whole quarter; I don't know why we quit after one quarter there."
Hillsboro trailed by as many as five in the third quarter before Jost's final five points cut the lead to 35-33 to start the fourth quarter.
The teams juggled the lead four times in the fourth quarter.
Central was held scoreless for nearly 2:00 and Steve Chisholm put Hillsboro back in front, 40-39, with 4:15 left.
Jake Norris scored a season-game high 15 points for the Mustangs, two of which ended the drought, putting the Mustangs back on top.
A pair of free throws by Andy Brubacher at the 2:31 mark were the last points Hillsboro could conjure as the Mustangs ended the game on an 8-0 run.
Mark Bayard's three with 2:03 to go sunk the Trojans for good, 44-42.
"I didn't think we executed as well offensively as we need to consistently enough," Knoll said. "That was everything (second chance points); we just didn't do a good enough job.
"That's been a weakness all year. We just aren't rebounding hard enough. It's just killing us."
Hillsboro hosts Lyons Friday with the game beginning around 8 p.m.
Ellinwood
On Tuesday night at Ellinwood, the Trojans got off to a quick start against the Eagles and cruised to a much-needed 68-33 blowout.
Jost scored a career-high 17 points and Weinbrenner pitched in 16.
