By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek recorded its second consecutive boys' basketball win by upending Minneota 69-58 in Hills Tuesday.
The home-standing Patriots opened a big lead in the first eight minutes of play and made it stand up while posting an 11-point victory.
H-BC now has won two straight games after starting the campaign with a 0-3 mark.
The Patriots will try to extend their winning streak when they host Southwest Christian and Central Lyon tomorrow and Monday respectively.
A solid first quarter proved to be the difference for H-BC against the Vikings.
The Patriots raced to a 22-9 cushion in the first eight minutes of play. Minneota played the hosts evenly the rest of the game but never did overcome H-BC's solid start.
"We got off to a great start," said Patriot coach Steve Wiertzema. "We were up 22-9, and we were really playing well. We played evenly the rest of the way."
Minneota trimmed H-BC's lead to 11 points (41-30) by halftime, but the difference remained at 11 points when the third (56-47) and fourth quarters (69-58) were complete.
Matt Buck, who led the Patriots with nine rebounds and 24 points, tossed in 17 points in the first half.
Lance Crawford, who added five rebounds, netted seven of his nine points to lead H-BC in scoring during the second half.
Chris Fransman added 13 points and three steals to the winning cause.
Lyle DeBoer contributed five rebounds, four assists and four steals, while Brad Haak chipped in six assists and five steals.
Box score
D.DeBoer 0 0 0-1 0, Van Batavia 1 0 0-0 2, Van Maanen 1 0 0-0 2, Fransman 5 1 0-0 13, Haak 2 0 3-7 7, L.DeBoer 2 0 0-0 4, Van Wyhe 1 0 0-0 2, Top 2 0 2-2 6, Crawford 4 0 1-1 9, Buck 9 1 3-7 24.
Team statistics
H-BC: 29 of 57 field goals (51 percent), nine of 18 free throws (50 percent), 31 rebounds, 30 turnovers.
Minneota: 24 of 62 (39 percent), 10 of 16 free throws (63 percent), 22 rebounds, 27 turnovers.