Fans inside historic Hillcrest Union were treated to a back-and-forth boys basketball battle Saturday, with the Sigourney Savages prevailing over the Hillcrest Academy Ravens by a final of 59-51 in an Achieve Challenge scrimmage.

There was no short of scoring in the first quarter, as a combined 36 points were scored between both sides. Sigourney saw themselves up by six, and hung tight in the second frame to take a 30-25 lead into halftime. Both sides were efficient in the first half, with only 12 combined turnovers unofficially. The stars were out early in Kalona as well, with Sigourney’s Isaac Bruns scoring 11 points before the break, and Seth Ours scoring eight for Hillcrest. The Ravens used an 18-point third period to draw within a point of the Savages going into the final eight minutes. However, Sigourney was able to put away Hillcrest at the charity stripe, making six of their seven free throws in crunch time.

Unofficially, Sigourney ended the night with 36 rebounds to Hillcrest’s 32, and had one fewer turnover than the Ravens. Bruns finished as Sigourney’s leader, dropping 21. The next closest was John Berg’s 11, who did not play a majority of the third quarter due to foul trouble. Hillcrest was led by Ours’s 15, followed by Bryce and Kale Bailey’s 11 apiece.

Sigourney Head Coach Mitch Eslick joined KCII Sports postgame to talk about the win. “I thought that, overall, the ball movement that we had tonight was good. In the fourth quarter we did a good job of hitting the offensive glass hard. We got two or three second chances. We got a couple offensive rebounds on free throws. Got a couple second opportunities,” Eslick said. “In a close game that could’ve gone either way, that ended up being big for us.”

Since the contest was a scrimmage, the win does not count towards Sigourney’s record for this season. On the other side, the loss will not count for Hillcrest, either. Both squads will prepare for jamborees on Monday, while the Area Game of the Week has an old-fashioned SEISC North girls rivalry between Highland and Lone Tree in Riverside on Tuesday.