A team in need of an upset couldn’t produce one Thursday in Worthington.
The Hills-Beaver Creek boys met Southwest Christian for the third time this season during the semifinal round of the South Section 3A Boys’ Basketball Tournament at WHS.
The fifth-seeded Patriots needed a stunning effort to defeat the top-seeded and undefeated Eagles to extend their campaign.
SWC simply didn’t let that happen.
The Patriots remained in contention entering the game’s second half, but the Eagles dominated play in the final 18 minutes to register a 94-49 victory.
H-BC ends the season with a 9-16 record.
The Patriots needed to play flawless basketball to move past a SWC squad that defeated H-BC in Hills Dec. 19 (84-61) and in Edgerton Feb. 11 (95-63).
H-BC couldn’t come up with that type of effort, but the Patriots battled hard enough to be in a position to pull off an upset in the game’s first half.
After surrendering the game’s first five points, H-BC’s Gavin Wysong buried a three-point shot 1:56 into the contest to make the score 5-3.
The Patriots still trailed by two (7-5) when SWC scored five consecutive points to open a 12-5 advantage that was trimmed to four points (12-8) when H-BC’s Zander Wysong canned a three-point shot at 13:39.
SWC extended the lead to 10 points (24-14) over the next three minutes only to have H-BC make it a six-point difference 24-18) when Jax Wysong converted a field goal with 9:16 remaining.
The Eagles regrouped to put together a 10-2 run that left them sporting a 34-20 cushion with 5:48 left in the half.
H-BC closed the gap to seven points (36-29) when Zander Wysong hit a three at the 3:23 mark, but the Eagles outscored the Patriots 11-6 the rest of the stanza to lead 47-35 at the intermission.
The Patriots were unable to challenge the Eagles in the second half as SWC outscored H-BC 47-14 to prevail by 45 points.
Senior Jax Wysong turned in a 20-point, seven-rebound effort for the Patriots, who received 12 points from Zander Wysong.
H-BC senior Kyle Kueter collected seven caroms and blocked four shots.
Box score
G.Wysong 0 1 0-0 3, Harnack 1 0 0-1 2, Bennett 0 0 0-0 0, Gehrke 0 0 0-0 0, Taubert 0 0 0-0 0, Deelstra 0 0 2-2 2, Baker 1 0 1-2 3, Z.Wysong 2 2 2-2 12, Erickson 0 0 0-0 0, J.Wysong 8 0 4-5 20, Kueter 3 0 1-4 7, Steensma 0 0 0-0 0.
Team statistics
H-BC: 18 field goals made (55 percent), 10 of 16 free throws (63 percent), 29 rebounds.
SWC: 33 field goals made (69 percent), 19 of 29 free throws (66 percent), 29 rebounds.