Quick start helps Trojans cruise past Sterling
Shewey's scores game-high 27 points
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
If there's one thing the Hillsboro High School boys' basketball team knows, having a true point guard in a starting lineup is the key to victory.
Friday night at Sterling, the Black Bears were without the services of their starting point guard Kaleb Humphreys.
Humphreys would've helped some, but maybe not enough as the Trojans (9-6, 5-1 MCAA) wasted no time getting out of the gate, drilling 3-12 Sterling, 63-34.
"I thought we were really sharp to start the game," Trojan coach Darrel Knoll said. "It was a really well executed first three or four minutes of the game."
Clay Shewey scorched Sterling for a game-high 27 points, including four triples, and David Loewen notched another double-double with 14 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
Daniel Jost added 10 points, six coming from outside, while picking the Black Bears' pockets a game-high four times.
Sterling's fate was sealed in the first quarter, falling behind 10-1 in the game's first two minutes, thirty seconds, and trailing 22-7 after one.
The Black Bears couldn't get the lid off the basket the first half, much less figure out how to dissect the pesky Trojans' defense.
Sterling also was hammered on the glass, 32-19, and was held to one shot each trip most of the first half due in part to Loewen's nine defensive rebounds.
Hillsboro got impatient in the second, shunning away from Loewen inside as Sterling got as close as 24-13 with 6:30 left in the first half before they hit a five-minute scoring lapse.
The Trojans hit a scoring lapse themselves, but back-to-back buckets from Shewey sent Hillsboro in at the break with a cozy 32-15 lead.
Sterling got to within 14 twice in the third quarter, but Loewen fueled a 9-0 run — supplying six points — and the Trojans pushed their lead to 48-25 to open the fourth quarter.
Hillsboro used a 10-0 run to stretch the lead to 63-32 with 2:25 left in the game.
"It's pretty tough when you lose your point guard, I know what that's like firsthand," Knoll said. "Humphreys was their leader and I think they were never able to get in synch."
The Trojans face a three-game schedule this week that started Tuesday with a rematch against the visiting Nickerson Panthers.
Hillsboro then faces two formidable road games Friday and Saturday at Halstead and Wichita Collegiate.
