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Unofficially, Waynesville and Hillcrest shot worse than 40 percent and 30 percent respectively for the game.
The Hornets managed a lone 3-point bucket by David McIntosh in the first quarter, leaving coach John Schaefer to deem it one of the worst scoring performances he has seen in six years at Hillcrest.
“It’s a kind of a let-down game coming off of the Tournament of Champions,” said Schaefer. “I kind of expected it but I didn’t expect us to shoot as poorly as we did.”
Hillcrest tied the game at 14 to end the first half, with Juwan Johnson adding four points and Roy Hardy adding two of his own off a steal and layup. But it wasn’t until the fourth quarter when the Hornets managed to get momentum and gain two 10-point leads, due in part to a 5-point spurt from senior starter Austin Petry (3-for-10 8 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 assist).
“I want to be there in the crunch time,” said Petry who fouled out in the fourth, “Everyone on this team has the ability to make that kind of run it’s just [a question] of ‘Who’s gonna do it and when?’”
Waynesville had a definite size advantage of having starters Kellieon Williams (2-for-9 6 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block) and Juwan Morgan (3-for-5 12 points, 8 rebounds 1 steal, 1 block) listed as 6’7, but Waynesville coach Chris Pilz downplayed the notion this should have yielded an easy Tiger win.
“You’re playing against a team that knows how to leverage and maneuver you in certain ways,” said Pilz. “Hillcrest does a great job of getting underneath you and getting you out of position and our guys are going to have to like contact a little more.”
Hillcrest 48, Waynesville 43
Waynesville 9 5 10 19 -- 43
Hillcrest 3 11 15 19 --- 48
Waynesville: Donald Hargrow 12, J. Morgan 12, Joe Johnson 9, K. Williams 6, Dylan Newcomb 3, Javante Armstrong 1
Hillcrest: Thomas Whitaker 10, J. Johnson 9, A. Petry 8, R. Hardy 7, Brady Petry 5, D. McIntosh 5, Jonah Hill 2, Rylan Pryor 2
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