It was a successful first night of the year for a pair of area boys basketball programs at the Hillcrest Academy Jamboree Monday. Head coach Paul Kissell and the WACO Warriors clipped Clear Creek Amana 32-31 in a 16 minute scrimmage early in the night. the Warriors controlled most of the game, leading 17-11 after the first quarter. Down one in the final 10 seconds, WACO’s winning basket game on a buzzer beating put-back from Chase Waterhouse. After the game, Kissell and his seniors talked about their play, “Getting rebounds, defensive rebounds, making sure they don’t get second shots is always important. Our hustle, rebounding, playing as a team was great. We got a lot of bodies on the floor tonight. It was nice to see there wasn’t a lot of correction. They were able to step in and fill a role. Whether it was run a play or help side defensive rotations, it was good to see that we got everybody in and everyone contributed.”
The Warriors officially open the season Tuesday with a trip to Holy Trinity.
In the final of four contests, the Hillcrest Ravens roared back to beat New London 34-29. Hillcrest trailed by as many as nine early in the second quarter before putting together a 14-5 run to tie the game. Grant Bender led Hillcrest with 15 points. Luke Schrock had eight and Seth Ours five. Hillcrest head coach Dwight Gingerich talked about his biggest takeaways Monday, “They responded really well. It’s been a really good first week of practice. I thought we came and executed pretty well for a jamboree. We played hard. It was good to see our guys off the bench come in and give us some really good minutes. I thought Grant Bender, Josiah Beachy, Jace Rempel, Seth Ours and Luke Schrock had a good night. Seth (Ours) hit some big shots, Luke (Schrock) hit some big shots, Grant (Bender) played well. Played hard, tough in the post, hit a big three. I’m really pleased with our effort defensively.”
Hillcrest has one more tune-up Saturday when they host Iowa City Regina for an Achieve Scrimmage at 6p.m. before officially starting the campaign Tuesday at Highland.