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Graettinger tops boys Friday

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek boys' basketball team kicked off the 2000-01 campaign by dropping a close game to Graettinger during the first round of the Harris-Lake Park Tournament in Lake Park, Iowa, Friday.

The game was tight from beginning to end, but the Patriots experienced a rough third quarter that proved to the difference in what turned into a 71-66 setback.

Things looked good for the Patriots when Matt Buck pumped in nine of his team-high 15 points to help give the Patriots a 15-10 lead in the first quarter, but Graettinger battled back in the second quarter to gain a 36-34 lead after hitting a shot at the buzzer to end the second quarter.

Graettinger increased its lead to eight points (52-44) by outscoring the Patriots 16-10 in the decisive third quarter.

H-BC did pull to within three points in the fourth quarter but didn't get any closer as Graettinger canned 10 free throws in the final eight minutes of play to hang onto a five-point win.

"Our kids battled hard," said Patriot coach Steve Wiertzema. "We just didn't have a very good third quarter. We just didn't get it done in the third quarter.

The game was decided at the charity stripe, where Graettinger outscored the Patriots by a 24-14 margin. H-BC also turned the ball over nine more times (19-10) than Graettinger did.

Buck had four assists and recorded a double-double by nabbing 11 rebounds to go along with his 15 points.

Lance Crawford netted 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds, and David Top chipped in 13 points. Brad Haak snared seven rebounds for the Patriots.

Box score
D.DeBoer 0 1 1-3 4, Van Batavia 0 0 0-0 0, Van Maanen 1 1 0-0 5, Fransman 1 1 2-3 7, Haak 1 0 1-1 3, Van Wyhe 1 0 3-4 5, Top 3 2 1-4 13, Crawford 6 0 2-2 14, Buck 4 1 4-7 15.

Team statistics
H-BC: 23 of 50 field goals (46 percent), 14 of 24 free throws (58 percent), 30 rebounds, 19 turnovers.
Graettinger: 22 of 57 field goals (39 percent), 24 of 36 free throws (67 percent), 30 rebounds, 10 turnovers.

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