Hinckley-Big Rock pulls out quirky win against Indian Creek

SHABBONA – Hinckley-Big Rock scored 11 points in each of the first three quarters at Indian Creek in Tuesday’s Little Ten Conference match-up.

Meanwhile, the host Timberwolves had football scores (7-14-7) for the first three quarters.

Every game has its quirkiness, and this one certainly had its share as the Royals finally got to the hosts late in a 54-43 victory.

“It was kind of a weird game,” Hinckley-Big Rock coach Seth Sanderson said .”I thought we did a really nice job of finishing the game. In the first half Martin (Ledbetter) picked up his third foul and when you take a first-team all-state kid out it changes the game.”

Ledbetter finished with eight points, none bigger than his putback with 2:35 left that extended Hinckley-Big Rock’s lead to 45-40. Ledbetter had snagged an offensive rebound on the fourth straight missed free throw by the Royals, turning it into a blessing.

“That’s a possession saver, and he had two or three rebounds off of missed free throws,” Sanderson said. “For him to stay mentally engaged and for him to get involved. He did a really nice job tonight. He’s averaging 21 a game and for him to have nine, I thought he stayed unselfish. He rebounded the ball. It’s really a big maturity step for him.”

Ledbetter said he was ready to go, refocusing himself for a strong finish.

“When it gets in my head it can get annoying,” he said. “I knew that going into halftime I had to get my mind right. We stayed in it all game and really locked in on defense and played together as a team.”

Hinckley-Big Rock (12-4, 5-0) led 22-21 at the half.

The Royals pulled ahead 33-24 with 3:23 remaining in the third quarter after a pair of steals and layups from Max Hintzsche, who led the team with 22 points.

“Every time we’d seem to get a lead it would be 3 after 3,” Hintzsche said. “They kind of kept on coming back. It felt close the whole game. We’d pull away and they’d come back, but at the end we did a good job of pushing away.”

Indian Creek (13-6, 4-2) got to within 41-40 on Logan Schrader’s corner 3 with 4:18 left in the game. Schrader led the Timberwolves with 11 points.

The Timberwolves would not score again until Everett Willis’ 3 with 42 seconds left cut their deficit to 50-43.

“We play good defensively and put ourselves in position in games to win and we’ll struggle consistently scoring,” Indian Creek coach Nolan Govig said. “We’ll get in within 15 feet and in and in key moments, and throughout the game we’re not scoring consistently enough. That’s been our M.O. all season.”

Isaac Willis and Tyler Bogle each had nine points and Jason Brewer knocked down a pair of key 3-pointers in the second half for the Timberwolves.

Jacob Orin had eight points for the Royals.