For the second straight game, it was late heroics that lifted the Hillcrest Raven boys basketball team to victory as they took down Danville Saturday 51-49 at Hillcrest Union. Fresh off of a come-from-behind win at Winfield-Mt. Union by two on Friday, the Ravens would find themselves in need of late magic after Danville jumped out to a 16-12 lead after the first quarter. The Ravens hung around, down just two at half, 26-24 thanks to John Hughes 12 points before break. Out of the locker room, the Bears would keep the Ravens at arms length, taking a 42-36 lead into the fourth. The Ravens had a handful of possessions down just two, but were unable to tie or take the lead. Out of a timeout, the Bears reeled off eight straight to push their lead to 10 with around five minutes left. From there, the Ravens snapped into action. They held Danville scoreless for the final four and a half minutes of the contest before going on a 12-0 run of their own that culminated with an Aaron Hershberger put back with 11 seconds remaining to take their first lead of the night. Danville had one final play and came up empty on a deep contested three. After the game, Hillcrest head coach Dwight Gingerch talked about his team’s play late. “That was amazing. Everyone on the floor did some really big things for us. It was great to see Noah Miller step up and make big plays. He knocked down some key threes, penetrated and passed well, and his defense was outstanding.  How about Aaron Hershberger with the finish at the end? That was a great conversion off of a blocked shot. In our time out leading up to that, we thought, 40 seconds to play, we are going to play for one. I told Eli Ours that if he sees a lane, he should go. He probably went at the right time. Fortunately, Aaron Hershberger picked up the garbage there and just stuck it in. That was amazing!”

Hughes finished with a team high 16 points and Eli Ours added 10 while eight total Ravens scored. Hillcrest has now won four straight, running their record to 6-4 overall. They travel to Mediapolis on Tuesday.