It’s a Superconference showdown Tuesday night at Hillcrest Union when the Raven boys basketball team welcomes longtime rival Lone Tree to Kalona. Hillcrest enters play with a 3-4 overall record. The Ravens opened the second half of the year Saturday by throttling Morningstar Academy 73-42 behind 18 points and 11 rebounds from John Hughes, 17 points from Eli Ours and 14 from Grant Bender. On the season, Ours leads the way for the Ravens at 15 points per game. The senior also leads Hillcrest with four assists and three steals per contest. Hughes leads Hillcrest on the glass with five rebounds per game.
Lone Tree comes into the night with an overall mark of 0-2 in recorded games this year. It has been a slow start to the year for the Lions due to COVID concerns, playing just twice before Christmas and not at all since a 42-25 loss to Louisa-Muscatine on the 18th of December. Tyler Bell leads the Lions through their first two games, scoring eight points per game. He’s also pulled down a team best 10 rebounds per contest. Cade Shield is averaging four steals per game while Alex Viner has dished out three assists per outing. These two schools met twice a season ago with the Lions sweeping the series with a 62-51 win in Kalona and a 70-64 win in Lone Tree. Overall, the two schools have split the last 26 matchups in the series with Lone Tree on a three game winning streak. You can hear all of the action live tonight from Dwight Gingerich Court, beginning with the Washington HyVee pregame show at 7p.m. and tip at 7:30 on FM 106.1 KCII and KCIIradio.com.