Photo Courtesy of Hillcrest Academy

The Hillcrest Academy boys basketball team got one of the best playoff performances in recent Raven vintage Monday night and advanced through the opening round of the Class 1A District tournament with a 60-55 win over Iowa City Regina at Hillcrest Union. Offense took center stage early with the Ravens leading 18-17 after one and 32-27 at the half. Out of the break, the Ravens ran in 14 straight points in the third quarter to build a 15 point lead, and took a 46-33 advantage into the fourth quarter. Regina answered with a run of their own in the final eight minutes, cutting the margin to a pair, and missed a three to take the lead in the final 10 seconds, allowing Hillcrest to secure the win. After the game, Raven head coach Dwight Gingerich talked about his team’s play and standouts. “It was right on our whiteboard. Rebounding is going to be one of the big three keys that we have to work hard on. I thought Mason Bender as a sophomore and Bryce Bailey came in and did a pretty nice job rebounding along with our older guys. We needed all of the effort, energy and box outs that we could get. Luke (Schrock) out top and Seth (Ours) working really hard, Rowan Miller gave us some big minutes, Jace Rempel. It really took everybody tonight. They all did some good things.”

Hillcrest shot a sizzling 51% as a team, 57% from three, pulled in 29 rebounds and dished out 11 assists. Grant Bender had a monster performance. The senior went for 34 points on 14 of 21 from the field with nine boards. Seth Ours had 10 points, five boards and four assists. The win moves Hillcrest to 12-10 on the year, Regina’s season ends at  9-12. The Ravens advance to the second round of district play Thursday when they meet Lynnville-Sully on the road. You can hear that game live on FM 106.1 and KCIIradio.com, Thursday night with the Washington HyVee Pregame Show at 6:30 and tip at 7p.m.