It took the entire 32 minutes to decide the victor, but the Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ basketball team led most of the way and held off a furious Hillcrest Academy comeback to down the Ravens 48-43 on Thursday in a class 1A district 9 semifinal. 

As heard on KCII, the two teams were patient in a slow going first quarter where both man-to-man defenses held strong. Tied at 7-7 late in the period, Andrew Brown knocked down a triple for the home Wolves that sparked an 8-0 run in a three minute span. A couple WMU transition opportunities and stifling interior defense by Abram Edwards and Cam Buffington opened up a 24-12 halftime advantage. The lead hovered around that margin for much of the third when a late Grant Bender bucket for the Ravens made it a 33-26 ballgame after three. Hillcrest continued to stick around with big outside shots by Luke Schrock and the deficit trimmed to as low as four in the final minute, but critical free throws down the stretch by Buffington and Edwards salted the game away. Buffington finished with a game-high 22 points including eight from the charity stripe in the fourth. Brown finished with nine points and Edwards had eight. The Ravens were led by a 15 point outing from Schrock before fouling out in the final two minutes. Bender was also in double figures with 14. 

Wolves Head Coach Klay Edwards tells KCII Sports Brown sparked the offense in the first half. “I am really happy for him. He has struggled shooting the ball lately and he has really been grinding trying to get that feel back. Super proud of him to step up and he has done that in past games for us. That was huge for an upperclassman to do that.”

Hillcrest Academy closes the winter 15-7, their most wins since 2018. They bid farewell to three seniors in Aiden Krabill, Noah Miller, and Alex Niemeyer. WMU improves to 21-2 and they advance to the district title game against Danville on Tuesday at Central Lee High School. The Bears narrowly got by Burlington Notre Dame 42-41 on a buzzer beater last night.