Hillsboro started Tuesday’s road game strong against the Miami Trace Panthers, but lost their momentum in the second half when the Panthers’ Blake Pittser tossed a 3-pointer that brought the Panthers into the lead at 43-42.
After a short-lived 1-point lead in the first two minutes of the game, Miami Trace had trouble shooting throughout the first quarter. Marshall Ward, Philip Mycroft and Josh Keets gathered momentum and kept the scoring hot for the Indians, who finished off the first quarter with a three-point lead with 21-18 on the scoreboard.
The Indians struggled to hold onto the lead in the second quarter after Pittser threw up a 3-point shot that brought the teams to a tie at 31-31, but Marshall Ward fought back with a 3-pointer of his own, taking Hillsboro’s 3-point lead back with less than three minutes on the clock.
By the half, the Indians still had their lead at 36-33.
Hillsboro lost it in the third quarter when they forgot to score for nearly four minutes, and the Panthers crept back into the lead when Pittser brought the paw down on a 3-pointer at 4:15, taking the lead from the Indians with 43-42 on the scoreboard.
The Panthers turned that 1-point lead into a 24-point lead in the next quarter and a half, sweeping Hillsboro under the rug with 17 and 27 points for the third and fourth quarters, respectively.
Hillsboro scored 11 points in the third quarter and only 6 in the fourth, and Miami Trace took the win with 77-53 on the scoreboard when the clock ran out.
Watson led scoring for the Indians with 19 points.
Miami Trace’s Darby Tyree led scoring for the Panthers with 25 points. He hit five of the Panthers’ 10 three-pointers.
“We’ve got to figure out to start a little better,” said Miami Trace head coach Rob Pittser. “We’re at about three games in a row where we’ve struggled in the first half in scoring the ball, handling the ball and guarding the ball, so while it’s nice to post 27-points in the fourth quarter, we’ve got to figure out a way to be more consistent.”
“The fourth quarter, obviously, was the difference of the game,” said Hillsboro coach Bruce Miles. “We knew that we had to weather the storm, we knew they’d come at us hard in the fourth quarter. We didn’t get out and push and transition like we wanted, I thought we had some tired legs in the fourth quarter, so we tried to rotate some guys but we just didn’t get it out.”
Darby Tyree led the Panthers with 9 rebounds. DeAndre Pettiford had seven rebounds and Keondrick Bryant had four rebounds.
Blake Pittser led the Panthers with six assists, DeAndre Pettiford had five assists.
Miami Trace (5-0 overall, 3-0 SCOL) will play at Chillicothe Friday with the freshman game starting at 4:45 p.m.
Hillsboro is back home Friday to host the Washington Blue Lions.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT — 18 15 17 27 — 77
H — 21 15 11 6 — 53
MTHS – D. Pettiford: 3 (1)-4/8-13, Carter: 3-8/10-17, McDonald: (1)-3, T. Pettiford: 1-2/2-4, Leach: 1-2, Pittser: 2 (2)2/2-12, Darby Tyree: 5 (5)-25, Connell: 1/2-1. Totals: 15 (10)-17/27-77. Free throw shooting: 17 of 27 for 62 percent. Combined field goal shooting: 25 of 50 for 50 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 10 of 22 for 45 percent. Rebounds: 33 (10 offensive). Assists: 18. Steals: 9. Blocks: 1. Turnovers: 9. Personal fouls: 15. Bench points: 33. Second chance points: 7. Points off turnovers: 11. Three-point field goals: T. Pettiford, 5; D. Pettiford, 2; Pittser, 2; McDonald.
HHS – Ward: 2-3/5-7, Watson: 5(2)3/4-19, Anderson: 2-4, Keets: 3(2)0/1-12, Mycroft 5-1/1-11. Totals: 17 (4)-7/11-53. Free throw shooting: 7 of 11 for 63 percent. Combined field goal shooting: 21 of 50 for 42 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 4 of 18 for 22 percent. Rebounds: 23 (5 offensive). Assists: 9. Steals: 5. Blocks: 0. Turnovers: 16. Personal fouls: 20. Bench points: 4. Second chance points: 2. Points off turnovers: 9.
