Hot-handed Trojans dispatch Ellinwood
Holmes scores 19 in Hillsboro boys' 70-40 romp of Eagles
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Throughout the course of the season, off-guard Nate Holmes has more less been a secret weapon for Hillsboro.
One of the first Trojans off the bench, Holmes has proven he's capable of shooting lights out from behind the arc.
His biggest test is doing it on a consistent basis, though.
Even without a big game from Holmes Friday, the Ellinwood Eagles still wouldn't have posed a threat on Senior Night for the hosting Trojans.
It sure helped to have him, though.
Holmes had a career night, dumping a game-high 19 points on the Eagles, including a trio of threes, leading Hillsboro (13-6 6-4 MCAA) to a jolly good 70-40 thrashing of Ellinwood.
"Nate came off the bench and really shot the ball well for us and that was a good, added spark to our offense," said Trojan coach Darrel Knoll. "I thought overall, we were just a lot sharper tonight.
"Nate shoots the ball well, but he's only shot it when we're playing catch-up. I told him you've got to play like that from the start. I thought he really came to play tonight."
Not just Holmes, but the rest of the Trojans, too.
Ellinwood would have had better luck trying to catch a cold than trying to catch up to Hillsboro the way the game went.
The Eagles had a 6-4 lead after Brent Detter scored their final basket of the first quarter with just under 4:00 left.
They really never challenged the Trojans again, who used quick ball movement to create offense and cash 23 turnovers for 22 points behind a barrage of threes for 44 percent.
Scoring 14 points while committing a game-high four thefts, Kyle Kroeker fueled a 7-0 run that gave the Trojans an 11-6 lead to mark the closest Ellinwood would ever get again.
Kroeker had plenty of help making it a miserable 32:00 for Ellinwood.
Wade Weibert added nine points and Peter Fast and Lucas Hamm furnished eight points each with Hamm grabbing a game-high nine rebounds and four offensively.
Then came Holmes in the second quarter, bombing the Eagles for nine points.
Holmes did it all, hitting a perfect six-for-six at the free-throw line.
He even got a follow with an offensive rebound right before the buzzer to send Hillsboro in at halftime up 28-19, shooting 53 percent from the floor and 55 overall.
The Trojans left the Eagles in the dust, shooting out the gate the second half for eight unanswered points by the time Ellinwood scored around the 6:20 mark.
Weibert's three-point play pushed the Trojan lead to 36-21 before an Eagle field goal.
Hillsboro's quartet of Holmes, Kroeker, Fast, and Weibert continued their carnage on Ellinwood the third quarter.
By the time it was done, the Eagles were looking at a 54-29 deficit to heading into the last 8:00.
The huge cushion allowed Knoll to clear his bench late in the fourth quarter.
Of the 12 Trojans suited up, all but two got in the score book.
"I think they (Trojans) did have lot of fun, everybody played really hard and I was happy with the win," Knoll said.
"I've told the guys in practice that we've got to come out of this mid-season clump. We've got to come ready to play and make the best out of the rest of the season. We've got as many games as we want to play left, we've got to come out ready to play."
The Trojans wrapped up the regular season Tuesday at Hoisington before opening the first round of Hesston's 3A sub-state Monday.
Collegiate
While Valentine's Day is a day reserved for love, the Trojans suffered a severe heartbreak against longtime rival Collegiate.
Hillsboro let a lead slip away in the late stages of the game to fall to the Spartans by a 41-38 crusher.
Holmes' monster game perhaps came three days late with the Trojans shooting an icy 29 percent from long range.
Kroeker scored a team-high 12 points and Hamm chipped in 10.
With the Trojans hanging on for dear life to a 33-28 lead to start the fourth quarter, Hillsboro could only manage five points with the Spartans rallying for 13.
If that wasn't enough, with the game knotted at 38-all, Cole Fiegel drained a cold-blooded three right before the buzzer to snap Collegiate's six-year losing streak to the Trojans and make for a grim Valentine's Day.
