Photo Courtesy of Hillcrest Academy Yearbook

Tuesday, the Hillcrest Academy Raven basketball teams hosted the Pekin Panthers in a Southeast Iowa Superconference doubleheader in Kalona. The Hillcrest boys were a 40-32 winner over the traveling Panthers. Hillcrest led 13-6 after the first and 22-17 at half. Pekin would close within two going to the fourth at 30-28, but the Ravens saw things through down the stretch, winning the fourth quarter 10-4 to claim the victory. Raven head coach Dwight Gingerich joined the KCII postgame Tuesday to take about the win. “I’m proud of our guys, they fought through a lot. We’ve got guys sick at home, guys trying to play through it. Really happy for them how they battled through adversity. They hung in there. We hit free throws. We’ve been struggling a little bit from the line, but to see Josiah (Beachy), Jace (Rempel) and Seth (Ours), all knock down free throws late in the game is really good to see. Great game from Luke Schrock. Made some huge defensive plays, steals, played aggressively. That really helped us tonight. He exemplified our defensive effort. Rowan (Miller) just played really well. Defensively, he’s active, he’s tenacious and he handles his minutes well.”

The Ravens shot 41% from the floor with 23 boards, six assists, seven steals and 14 turnovers as a team. Luke Schrock led the way with 13 points and six boards, Seth Ours got to double figures with 12. With the win, the Ravens climb to 4-2.

The Hillcrest girls fell to Pekin in a battle of winless teams 38-30. The Ravens are now 0-8 on the year. Both Hillcrest teams go to Wayland Friday to take on the WACO Warriors. You can hear that doubleheader live tomorrow night on KCII.