The Hillcrest Academy boys basketball team opens up the second half of their schedule today when they host the Morningstar Mustangs in a non-conference matchup at Dwight Gingerich Court in Kalona. The Ravens come into the afternoon with an overall record of 2-4. Last time out they fell to Pekin on alumni night in Kalona 61-33, giving up 28 straight points to the Panthers. Eli Ours led the way for the Ravens in the loss, scoring 21 points, including five three point goals. For the season, Ours is scoring a team best 15 points per contest. He also leads the team at three and a half steals and three assists per outing. John Hughes leads the Ravens on the glass with 4.3 rebounds per contest.

Due to scheduling and COVID-19 concerns, this will be the season opener for Morningstar Academy. From Bettendorf, and members of the Northern Illinois Christian Conference, which spans both Iowa and Illinois and includes schools like Pathway Christian in Kalona, the Mustangs are coming off of a successful year that saw them finish 18-3. Morningstar will look to replace their top two scorers from a season ago in Garrett DeVries and Zach Scholl who combined to average 26 points per game. Jackson Trotter is their leading returner on the score sheet from last year’s team. The now-senior scored 10 points per game. Luke Bohonek is the best back on the glass, he pulled down four rebounds per game as a freshman last year. Bohonek also led the Mustangs with six steals per game last year and is the leading returner at just over two and a half assists per game. This is the first meeting ever between the two programs. You can hear all of the action live this afternoon between the Ravens and the Mustangs on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Washington HyVee pregame show at 3:30p.m. and tip off at 4p.m. from Hillcrest Union.