Trojans defeat Belleville
Knoll bags 300th
win as Hillsboro defeats Buffaloes in Trojan Classic, 52-33
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Hard to believe that Tyler Peachey was playing with a sprained ankle in Saturday's third place game of the Trojan Classic in Hillsboro.
The 6'3" senior looked good as gold, scoring 14 points in the first half against Belleville, on his way to a game-high 18 as the (10-2) Trojans downed the (9-3) Buffaloes, 52-33.
In the midst of downing Belleville, Trojan coach Darrell Knoll picked up his 300th win.
The Trojan helmsman remembers the first of 300, stunning heavily favored Hesston behind a 35-point monster night from Shawn Winter.
Fifteen years have gone by and with them, so have names like Jones, Duerksen, Kyle, Clark, Kleiber, Driggers, Ratzlaff, Brubacher, and Weinbrenner.
The Buffaloes are not slouches either, despite enduring a night much like the Trojans endured the previous against Thomas More Prep.
They were hot on the Trojans' tail after one quarter, down 11-9 despite four points from Peachey.
Sadly for Belleville, Hillsboro wasn't hanging its head after not getting out of the garage against the Monarchs.
"I thought we played a great game today," Knoll said of the win. "I told the guys in the locker room we are somewhere between 10 and 100 times better than we were yesterday.
"We were more active on the ball, defense more active, help defense, we boarded a lot better, ran the court better and offensively, we got a lot better movement. We played more as a team tonight, and I think it really showed up."
Tough-guy Peachey was in a different zone the second quarter, scoring 10 points to give Hillsboro a comfortable 32-13 half-time lead after a cold shooting quarter by Belleville.
"I thought he came in as focused as I have seen him in many games," said Knoll of Peachey's performance. "He had much better decision making, much better all the way around, and I thought he did a better job of leading the team as well."
It was smooth sailing for the Trojans the rest of the way as the winded Buffaloes were never within striking distance.
A big key to the Trojan victory was containing Belleville's hot-handed Clark McDonald. Good idea considering he lit tournament champ Hesston up for 22 in a grueling 46-40 loss.
Caleb Marsh did that, holding McDonald to nine points with just one triple from a player who led the tournament in threes.
Hillsboro hit nearly 50 percent of its field goals in every quarter, benefiting from an 11-point lift from Dan Deckert.
"In respect to Belleville, they are a really good team," said Knoll. "We did to them what TMP did to us. We jumped on them, and they got on their heels.
"It's not that they couldn't play us a lot tougher, or we're that much better than them. It's just the fact that we got on them hard."
The Trojans will use a short break to rest before they return to action Feb. 3 when they host Nickerson.
Thomas More Prep
The Arctic blast was projected in the forecast for this week.
Unfortunately for the Trojans, the frigid air settled Friday night in the second round of the Trojan Classic against a formidable opponent, Thomas More Prep.
TMP got off to a quick start and never looked back, hitting Hillsboro with a hard 63-38 shot to the mouth to set up a date in the final game against Hesston.
The Monarchs limited the Trojans to a season-low icy 18 percent from the field with 0-for-17 from long range.
Darrell Knoll has had his share of fond memories through 15 years of coaching.
But the TMP game was not one of them.
Down 4-0 to start the game, Peachey chopped the lead in two with 7:17 to go in the first quarter.
In a game that saw a combined 63 free throws, Hillsboro's success catching the Monarchs at the foul line was about as good as the Chiefs winning a playoff game.
Hillsboro went nearly one whole quarter without a field goal, and by the time Toby Berg ended the drought with 6:20 left in the half, Hillsboro was doubled over, 24-12.
Peachey led the scoring with nine before sustaining an ankle injury late in the game.
His slapping the chair in disgust on his exit best summed up the game for Hillsboro.
Trojans handle Abilene, 59-38
The Hillsboro High School boys' varsity basketball team defeated Abilene, 59-38, at home.
Eric Weinbrenner had a game-high 20 points, that included hitting six three-pointers. He shot four of them in the first half and two in the second.
Tyler Peachey scored 16 points followed by Kyle Jilka with seven, Caleb Marsh with six, Daniel Deckert with four, Derek Hamm, Aaron Yoder, and Michael Bookless with two each.
Deckert led in rebounds with nine, followed by Marsh and Wade Weibert with four each.
The team will host the Nickerson Panthers on Tuesday.
