By John RittenhouseThe Hills-Beaver Creek boys’ basketball team wrapped up its pre-Christmas schedule by playing three games in a six-day span.The Patriots lost a 13-point home decision to Southwest Christian. H-BC lost 12- and three-point road games to Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin and Murray County Central on Saturday and Tuesday respectively.H-BC, 0-5 overall, plays in the Luverne Holiday Classic Dec. 29-30.MCC 70, H-BC 67The Patriots forced the Rebels to play an overtime session before falling by three points in Slayton Tuesday.The game was tight from beginning to end, with the Rebels using a 7-4 scoring cushion in overtime to win the game.MCC led 34-32 after 18 minutes of play. H-BC battled back to tie the game at 63 in the second half."Our kids played hard," said H-BC coach Steve Wiertzema."We just got to learn how to eliminate the little mistakes and we’ll be all right. We gave up too many offense rebounds and had too many turnovers."Adam Finke and Aaron Esselink netted 17 points each for H-BC, while Halden Van Wyhe chipped in 11 counters. Cody Rozeboom, who dished up seven assists, and Jason Hup charted eight rebounds each.Box scoreVan Wyhe 1 1 6-9 11, Rozeboom 1 1 0-2 5, Finke 3 3 2-2 17, Scholten 0 1 3-4 6, DeBoer 1 0 0-1 2, Hup 4 0 1-1 9, Esselink 6 0 5-11 17.Team statisticsH-BC: 22 of 44 field goals (50 percent), 17 of 30 free throws (57 percent), 26 rebounds, 20 turnovers.MCC: 29 of 65 field goals (45 percent), five of nine free throws (56 percent), 24 rebounds, 12 turnovers.ML-B-O 72, H-BC 60The Patriots couldn’t break through for their first win of the season when they challenged the Wolverines in Mountain Lake Saturday.H-BC remained within striking distance of ML-B-O most of the night, but they couldn’t overcome 22 turnovers in what ended as a 12-point loss.ML-B-O led 37-33 at halftime before outscoring the Patriots 35-27 in the second half to win by 12.Esselink led H-BC with 18 points. Finke, who hit four three-point shots, finished with 15 counters. Rozeboom charted six assists, six rebounds and three steals. Hup led the Patriots with eight rebounds.Box scoreVan Wyhe 0 1 2-2 5, Rozeboom 4 0 1-1 9, Finke 1 4 1-2 15, Scholten 0 0 2-2 2, DeBoer 0 0 0-2 0, Hup 3 0 2-5 8, Sandbulte 0 1 0-0 3, Esselink 6 0 6-9 18.Team statisticsH-BC: 20 of 43 field goals (46 percent), 14 of 23 free throws (61 percent), 25 rebounds, 22 turnovers.ML-B-O: 27 of 55 field goals (49 percent), 12 of 20 free throws (60 percent), 25 rebounds, five turnovers.SWC 59, H-BC 46The Eagles rallied from an eight-point deficit in the second half to deny the Patriots a win in Hills Thursday.H-BC, which received a field goal from Darin DeBoer with two seconds remaining in the first half to sport a 21-18 halftime advantage, led 29-21 when Rozeboom sank a shot at the 14:25 mark of the second half.The Patriots led 35-29 with 10:27 remaining, when SWC started its comeback by going on a 14-3 run to move in front 43-39 with 5:35 left to play.H-BC trimmed the difference to two points (43-41) before being outscored by the Eagles 16-5 in the final five minutes to lose by 13.Esselink scored 14 points to lead the Patriots. DeBoer paced H-BC with nine rebounds and three steals. Rozeboom collected seven rebounds and netted 11 points. Finke passed for five assists during the contest.Box scoreVan Wyhe 0 1 1-3 4, Rozeboom 4 0 3-5 11, Finke 0 0 0-0 0, Scholten 0 0 0-0 0, DeBoer 4 0 1-1 9, Hup 3 0 0-0 6, Sandbulte 1 0 0-0 2, Esselink 5 0 4-8 14.Team statisticsH-BC: 18 of 50 field goals (36 percent), nine of 17 free throws (53 percent), 30 rebounds, 32 turnovers.SWC: 25 of 63 field goals (40 percent), eight of 20 free throws (40 percent), 27 rebounds, 19 turnovers.