By John RittenhouseTiming is important in the game of basketball.Unfortunately for Hills-Beaver Creek, it was a case of bad timing that ended the 2004-05 season for the Patriots at Southwest State University in Marshall Thursday.Playing Russell-Tyler-Ruthton in the Section 3A championship game, the stage seemed to be set for H-BC to earn the school’s first berth in the state tournament. The Patriots, after all, were riding a 19-game winning streak into the title tilt, and one of the wins came against their opponent, the R-T-R Knights.Then it happened, at the worst possible time. A usually potent offensive team lost its ability to score at will, and the result was a stunning 61-42 loss to the Knights.The loss ends an incredible 27-3 H-BC season, which featured a perfect 16-0 run through the Red Rock Conference.R-T-R, the 2004 state champions, will get the chance to defend their title at the 2005 classic. The 24-3 Knights played their first game at Williams Arena last night.When trying to determine what happened to the Patriots in Marshall last Thursday, a quick glance at H-BC’s shot chart yields the answer. The Patriots were limited to three field goals in each of the game’s first three quarters, and H-BC shot 14 of 57 (25 percent) for the night."It was the worst we shot in a game all year. We just couldn’t hit anything," said H-BC senior post Tom LeBoutillier. "We didn’t change anything for this game. Coming in, we just wanted to play our game. They (R-T-R) did take some things away from us, and we didn’t know how to react to that. It just wasn’t our turn."Early indications showed it wasn’t going to be H-BC’s night.R-T-R’s Kyle Minett hit two three-point shots and Brett Newton, who scored a game-high 23 points, added another to give the Knights a 9-0 lead in the first 2:18.H-BC’s Tyler Bush recorded the first field goal for the Patriots at the 5:28 mark of the first quarter to make it 9-2. That, however, proved to be as close as H-BC would come to catching R-T-R the rest of the night.The Knights outscored H-BC 12-4 during the final five minutes of the first quarter and led 21-6 when Newton, who netted 16 points in the first half, converted a field goal with two seconds remaining in the period."R-T-R had a good defensive game," said Patriot coach Steve Wiertzema. "They sat back with their big guy (post Jon Wiering) in the middle, and he blocked our shots. We didn’t react very well to that."After the Knights scored the first two points of the second quarter, H-BC reeled off five straight points with senior Travis Broesder draining a field goal at 5:19 to make it a 23-11 game.R-T-R countered with an 8-0 run capped by a layup from Newton at 1:34 to give the Knights a 20-point lead (31-11) that was trimmed to 18 points (34-16) at the intermission.H-BC played well in spurts in the second half, but the Patriots were unable to sustain any long rallies.Trailing 40-20 at one point in the third quarter, H-BC used an 8-0 run capped by a field goal from Bush with 1:31 remaining to make it a 40-28 game. Minett, who scored 10 points in the second half for R-T-R, drained a shot with one second left to give the Knights a 42-28 cushion at period’s end.Kale Wiertzema, who led H-BC with 18 points and nine rebounds in the game, trimmed R-T-R’s advantage to 12 points (43-31) with one free throw at the 5:36 mark of the fourth quarter. The Patriots trailed by 14 (54-40) when Bush turned a steal into a layup with 1:40 remaining. R-T-R, however, outscored the Patriots 7-2 the rest of the way to win by 19."We made some runs at them in the second half, but they would answer with a couple of baskets," coach Wiertzema said. "Our plan was to be aggressive and go to the basket. They just defended us well, and we didn’t get many open looks."LeBoutillier nabbed eight rebounds for H-BC. Bush charted five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Wiertzema added four assists.The loss was a tough one to digest for H-BC, especially the five seniors who formed the team’s starting lineup.Coach Wiertzema said his seniors shouldn’t let the loss to R-T-R tarnish what was an otherwise successful campaign."We had a great year. This was just one bad night," he concluded.Box scoreWysong 0 2 0-0 6, Rozeboom 0 0 0-0 0, Bush 7 0 2-2 16, Wiertzema 3 1 9-10 18, Baker 0 0 0-0 0, Broesder 1 0 0-0 2, LeBoutillier 0 0 0-2 0.Team statisticsH-BC: 14 of 57 field goals (25 percent), 11 of 14 free throws (79 percent), 27 rebounds, six turnovers.R-T-R: 20 of 47 field goals (42 percent), 14 of 20 free throws (70 percent), 35 rebounds, 14 turnovers.