The Hillcrest Academy boys basketball team is back in Kalona Friday night when the Pekin Panthers come to town. The Ravens are 2-3 on the year after Tuesday’s 70-62 loss to Cardinal in Eldon. Eli Ours led the Ravens in the contest with 18 points. Hillcrest is led in scoring on the season by Ours with 14 points per game. He also has a team best three and a half assists per contest and over three steals per game. John Hughes leads Hillcrest on the glass, pulling in five rebounds per game.

Pekin stands at 5-1 on the season. They rolled through Columbus on Tuesday 71-30 in Packwood. On the season, the Panthers are led by a trio of seniors in double figures with Brock Long at 17 points per game, Brady Millikin at 15 and Brayden Sobaski at 10 points per contest. Millikin and Long share the team lead at three assists per game. Cael Lyle has a team best six boards per contest. This week, Hillcrest head coach Dwight Gingerich, broke down his team’s performance against Cardinal. “After a rough start to each half I thought we settled in and played well in the second and fourth quarters. We gave up too many offensive rebounds and that probably was the difference in the game. We went man and zone both tonight and against man we had some issues with penetration, against the zone they knocked down some outside shots. I thought our effort was great tonight but our execution leaves a little to be desired. This is a team that has a ways to go when it comes to learning what we are all trying to do. It was good to see Eli Ours shoot the ball well tonight and lead the break. I think it was his best game of the season. Aaron Hershberger also stood out tonight. He continues to get better and was more assertive on the offensive end and finished well on the offensive glass. Aidan Krabill also had a good night. He is natural in his ability to find the open man and he knocked down a couple of jump shots.”

These two teams met twice a season ago, the Panthers won in Packwood 47-38 en route to the north division Superconference championship, while the Ravens handed the Panthers their only loss in league play last year 68-54 in Kalona. It’s also virtual alumni night at Hillcrest Academy. Alumni are invited to visit hillcrestravens.org and sign up for prize drawings and join the video stream of the broadcast with KCII play-by-play for the winner announcements. You can hear all of the action live tonight between Hillcrest Academy and Pekin, on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Washington HyVee pregame show at 5:30 and tip off at 6p.m.