By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Just a few days ago, Hillcrest’s boys basketball team found itself trailing by 12 in the third quarter of the district championship game. The Hornets rallied to beat Parkview by five.
On Friday in a Class 5 quarterfinal against Jefferson City, Hillcrest found itself down by 11 in the third quarter. Again the Hornets rallied.
This time, though, it wasn’t quite enough. Jefferson City scored with five seconds left to force overtime, then made all six free throws in the extra frame to pull out a 60-56 win in Bolivar.
“It was a great high school basketball game,” Hillcrest coach Jordan Fielding said. “We were close, just didn’t have a few balls bounce our way but that’s basketball. I’m really proud of our team. We’ve had a great season, it just didn’t quite end the way we wanted but man, I’m still so proud of all of them.”
Hillcrest, which won its first district title since 2015 with the win over Parkview, finishes the year with an 18-12 record. Jefferson City (23-7) advances to face Ladue Horton Watkins in the semifinals next Saturday in Springfield.
The Hornets needed a big comeback in the second half to make a game of it. They led 15-10 in the first half but the Jays finished on a 17-4 run to lead by eight at the break. And Jefferson City opened the third with a 3-pointer for a 30-19 advantage.
When the third was over, though, Hillcrest would lead 35-34 – thanks in part to seven points from sophomore Taner Hicks-Everhart and five more from senior Cole Griesemer.
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Hillcrest led 44-42 after a 3-pointer by senior Amarre Clark with 4:11 left in the game, and then sophomore Ethan Weaver made it 46-44 with a pair of free throws with 3:53 remaining.
After Jefferson City tied it with 3:44 remaining, neither team scored for more than two minutes until Weaver scored again to make it 48-46 with 1:40 on the clock.
Hillcrest still had the lead in the final seconds, but Jefferson City’s Cole Heller scored on a putback with five seconds on the clock to send it into overtime. The Hornets never led again.
A 3-pointer from the corner by Weaver with 15 seconds left cut it to 58-56, but the Jays added their fifth and sixth free throws of the period with 12 seconds remaining to put the game away.
“When we were in that third quarter I just told them guys, we’ve been here before and this is nothing new,” Fielding said. “We just preach team basketball. We don’t need a superhero shot and kudos to our guys for buying in. We got stops when we needed to, scored when we needed to, made plays and had a chance to win at the end, just didn’t come out on top.”
“It was quite the up and down season with injuries and kids quitting,” he said. “It was an up and down season but for our guys to fight the way they did and end the way we did, it’s a testament to them and their families and the kind of kids they are.”
Griesemer led the Hornets with 20 points, Weaver added 13 and Hicks-Everhart scored 11. Jefferson City’s Steven Samuels scored 23.
