This game was originally scheduled to be played on Jan. 19.

However, winter weather caused a postponement of the contest featuring the Hillsboro Indians at Miami Trace Panthers until Tuesday, Feb. 13.

The Panthers needed a win to finish the Frontier Athletic Conference schedule for the 2023-24 season as outright champions.

The mission was accomplished as the Panthers defeated the Indians, 64-53.

Miami Trace finishes the regular season with a record of 16-6. The Panthers complete the FAC slate at the top of the standings at 9-1.

Hillsboro ends the regular season at 12-10 overall, 6-4 in the FAC, placing third in the FAC.

The Washington Blue Lions won 56-50 at Jackson Tuesday night to go to 15-3 overall, 8-2 in the FAC, good for second place

Jackson falls to 15-7 overall, 5-5 in the FAC, placing fourth.

Chillicothe is 7-14 overall, 2-8 in the FAC, taking fifth place, followed by McClain (5-16 overall, 0-10 in the FAC).

Miami Trace head coach Ben Ackley began his post-game comments with a tip of the cap to Hillsboro.

“I watched (junior) Tate Davis score 28 points against Washington Court House,” Ackley said. “John Wall, one of the best defenders in the league, guarded him. He’s unbelievable. He keeps you up at night.

“Austin (senior Boedeker) was dragging,” Ackley said. “We tried to re-hydrate him at halftime. He gave an unbelievable effort.

“I thought Coleden May and Bryson Osborne, two more seniors, did a very good job on the freshman (Hillsboro’s Jack Howland who led his team with 22 points),” Ackley said. “When you put as much attention on Tate (who finished with eight points, all from the free throw line) as we did, it does open some other things up. They had another guy (junior Brayden Hunter) get hot in the second half and hit three threes. You can’t always cover them all.

“That being said, I’m just extremely proud of these guys,” Ackley said. “It would have been real easy to tuck our tail when we stumbled at Court House (a 43-37 win by the Blue Lions over the Panthers on Feb. 3). We shot it horribly. But, these guys aren’t made like that.

“We’re starting to build some championship DNA in this program,” Ackley said. “It’s year three. These guys get up, they come in and shoot at six in the morning. They go to Chillicothe and lift weights three times a week, seven months a year. We didn’t do that to finish second, that’s just a fact.

“If we had lost this league (title) or tied for this league, it just wouldn’t have been good enough,” Ackley said. “We’re still dragging about not getting a gold ball (emblematic of an unbeaten conference record), but, we brought a championship back to this (school) district, and this program. I think it’s been seven or eight years.

“I want to thank every kid the last two years who has sacrificed,” Ackley said. “The seniors we’ve lost, they’re a part of this, too. We told them from day one that they were going to come back in here and watch championship teams and they were going to be part of the building blocks to allow that to happen.”

Ackley also thanked his coaching staff.

“They took over for me when I was down and had the heart attack,” Ackley said. “Coach (Brian) Southward, coach (Alex) Marting, coach (Zach) Bloom, coach (Jeff) Smallwood. We (the varsity) won the league; our j-v won it, our freshman team won it, and our eighth grade won it. And our seventh grade was very competitive.

“Hopefully this is just the start,” Ackley said. “We’ve got plenty of work to do.”

Now Miami Trace has a few days to get ready to host Hillsboro again, this time in the Division II Sectional tournament on Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. Miami Trace is the No. 5 seed and Hillsboro is the No. 12 seed.

Miami Trace jumped out to a 6-2 lead on Hillsboro Tuesday.

The Indians caught them and took a 9-8 only to see Miami Trace finish the first period with a 12-11 lead.

Miami Trace led by as many as eight points in the second quarter, with Hillsboro showing tenacity, drawing back to within four.

The Panthers held a 32-22 halftime lead.

Miami Trace led by as many as 13 points in the third quarter. It was a 13-point game in favor of the Panthers, 50-37, as the fourth quarter got underway.

An early bucket by Guthrie gave the Panthers their biggest lead of the night, 15 points at 52-37.

Hillsboro was down, but assuredly not out of this game.

Howland hit two threes and scored a total of eight points in the fourth for Hillsboro.

Davis scored five, and senior Steven Kibler and junior Nic Burns each chipped in two points for Hillsboro.

The Panthers, struggling of late at the free throw line, went 10 of 12 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter, with Guthrie scoring eight points in the quarter, Grant Guess, Brady Armstrong and Bryson Osborne each hit two free throws in the fourth, to go along with Guthrie’s four points from the line.

Hillsboro fought back until they trailed by just three points (52-49) with 3:22 remaining in the game.

The Indians would get no closer, however, the game ending with the Panthers taking the 64-53 victory.

Sophomore Adam Guthrie was the game’s leading scorer with 24 points. He was 6 of 6 from the foul line. It was another double-double for Guthrie, who had 10 rebounds, five of those on the offensive side.

Guthrie had four assists, one steal and he blocked two shots.

Sophomore Grant Guess finished with 12 points and three rebounds. He led the Panthers with five assists and had one steal.

Bryson Osborne had three threes and finished with 11 points. He had three rebounds, one assist and a team-leading four steals.;

Brady Armstrong had one three and ended the game with nine points. He had one rebound, one assist and one steal.

Coleden May had six points, four rebounds and he blocked one shot.

Austin Boedeker had two points and three rebounds.

Also for Hillsboro, junior Brayden Hunter made three threes and finished with 11 points, junior Nic Burns scored six, senior Steven Kibler had five points and sophomore Mason Dumpert scored one.

Hillsboro head coach Josh Howland credited his team for their effort to come from 15 down to draw to within three points in the fourth quarter.

“Just the effort from the boys to finish out,” Howland said. “That’s what they do. They play hard all the time. We’ve gotten better. We ended last season, I believe, with four or five wins. We’re looking at 12 wins right now. We’re improving by leaps and bounds, that’s for sure. I couldn’t be more happy with the boys. Essentially, it’s mostly the same boys back again and we get most of them back again next year.

“We’re a young team,” Howland said. “We’re excited about the future. It’ll definitely be a challenge in here next Tuesday. We feel like Coach Ackley is doing a great job here and the rest of their coaching staff. I know they filled in for him. Trace kind of has a nice blend of seniors and underclassmen. It’ll be a challenge for us next week and we’re excited about it. It’s going to be fun.”

SCORE BY QUARTERS

MT 12 20 18 14 — 64

H 11 11 15 16 — 53

MIAMI TRACE — Ben Mathews 0-0-0; Grant Guess 5-2-12; Coleden May 3-0-6; Brady Armstrong 2 (1)-2-9; Austin Boedeker 1-0-2; Adam Guthrie 9-6-24; Bryson Osborne 0 (3)-2-11. TOTALS — 20 (4)-12-64. Free throw shooting: 12 of 16 for 75 percent. Three-point field goals: Osborne, 3; Armstrong. Field goal shooting: 24 of 45 for 53 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 4 of 10 for 40 percent. Rebounds: 24 (8 offensive). Turnovers: 10. Assists: 11. Steals: 7. Blocked shots: 3. Fouls: 15.

HILLSBORO — Mason Dumpert 0-1-1; Tate Davis 0-8-8; Brayden Hunter 1 (3)-0-11; Steven Kibler 1-3-5; Nic Burns 3-0-6; Jack Howland 4 (2)-8-22; Brady Juillerat 0-0-0. TOTALS — 9 (5)-20-53. Free throw shooting: 20 of 29 for 69 percent. Three-point field goals: Hunter, 3; Howland, 2. Field goal shooting: 14 of 35 for 40 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 5 of 16 for 31 percent. Turnovers: 13. Offensive rebounds: 6.

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Panther j-v team beats Hillsboro, finishes 20-2 overall, 10-0 in FAC

The Miami Trace Panthers junior-varsity boys basketball team defeated Hillsboro Tuesday, Feb. 13, 53-44.

Miami Trace completes the season with a very fine record of 20-2 overall. The Panthers went undefeated in the Frontier Athletic Conference at 10-0.

Connor Napier was the game’s leading scorer for Miami Trace with 21 points. He made one three-point field goal,.

Julian Baker and Cade Whitaker each scored 10 points for Miami Trace. Baker made one three-point shot.

Luke Armstrong hit two threes for six points, Bryson Yeoman scored four points and Avery Bennett had two points.

Hillsboro was led by Tre Conley with 14 points.

Lucas Holland made a pair of threes and finished with seven points; Dylan Dixon and Walker Pence each scored six points (Pence had one three); Mason Dumpert scored five points and a trio of players — Brayden Scruggs, Jaishon Captain and Logan Barton — each scored two for the Indians.

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Miami Trace freshman team tops Hillsboro

The Miami Trace freshman team finished the 2023-24 season with a 51-27 win over Hillsboro Tuesday, Feb. 13.

Miami Trace completes the season with a record of 9-5 overall, 7-1 in the FAC. The Panthers split with Jackson and Chillicothe did not have a freshman team this season.

Evan Parsley was the game’s leading scorer for Miami Trace with 21 points. He made three of the Panthers’ five three-point field goals.

Dane Wilt made two threes for Miami Trace and finished with 10 points.

Anthony Huffer had seven for the Panthers, Gage Henry scored five and a quartet of players — Kenton Berry, Liam Havens, Cody McMillin and Matthias Smith — each scored two points for Miami Trace.

For Hillsboro, Hunter Manson made three three-point field goals to lead with nine points.

Logan Barton scored six, Zaydenn Scruggs made one three and finished with five points, Tre Conley had four points and Corey Schommer made one three and finished with three points.