It’s an all-KCII area matchup Friday when the Hillcrest boys travel to Columbus to meet the Wildcats. The Ravens stand at 1-2 on the year after a 45-44 loss in Kalona to Louisa-Muscatine Tuesday. In that game, John Hughes led Hillcrest with 13 points and five rebounds. On the season, the Ravens are led in scoring by Eli Ours at 15 points per game. Hughes is the leader on the glass with four rebounds per outing. Noah Miller averages five assists per contest to lead the team.

Columbus is 0-3 on the season. They were beaten by WACO in Wayland Tuesday 55-41. The Wildcats have also dropped games to Louisa-Muscatine 55-34 and Wapello 81-34 this year. This week, Hillcrest head coach Dwight Gingerich talked about the matchup. “They have a new coach which always makes things different. You can’t really know for sure how it’s going to be. They have good size and quickness and he’s got them playing well. Our hands will be full and we’re trying to figure out our own selves. We’re balancing between cleaning things up ourselves and getting out on the court against an opponent and handling what we see. There’s not enough time in a day to focus on everything that needs to be done. So we prioritize, we work the practice plan.”

These two teams met twice a season ago with the Ravens sweeping the games by scores of 57-52 in CJ and 55-36 in Kalona. You can hear all of the action live tonight on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com with the Washington HyVee pregame show at 5:30 and tip at 6p.m.