Dragons fire melts Hillsboro Trojans in sub-state title rematch
Halstead 'fouls' up Hillsboro boys' state hopes with 52-40 defeat
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Being in the coaching business 18 years, Trojan coach Darrell Knoll knows how valuable the free-throw line is.
He's had two state titles slip through his hands, not to mention numerous games when the stakes were high, all because his team faltered at the charity stripe.
Add Saturday night's title game of the Hesston sub-state against red-hot league-foe Halstead Dragons to that list.
The Trojans were abysmal from the foul-line, going six-of-15 while the Dragons handed Hillsboro (16-7) its second defeat of the year with a 52-40 season-ending loss.
Halstead advances to this week's Class 3A state tournament in Hutchinson where it faces Maur Hill Prep.
If Hillsboro didn't have its hands full enough with rugged shooting at the line, foul trouble, and shooting 36 percent from the field combined with Halstead's Justin Regehr, made for a long night for the Trojans.
In the previous meeting during the regular season, the other half of the Dragons' one-two punch, Austin Ratzlaff, stung the Trojans for a game-high 30 points in a huge overtime win.
It was Regehr's turn Saturday, lighting the Trojans up for an identical 30 points, taking over the game the second half.
With a ticket to Hutch on the line, the Trojans had to have a big game from senior Kyle Kroeker and junior Lucas Hamm.
Foul trouble kept the duo from becoming a factor with Hamm fouling out with 5:51 left in the game and Kroeker in the waning minutes.
The duo would combine for 13 points.
With fouls neutralizing the Hillsboro offense, Knoll had to go to his bench for guys who can't produce at the line quite like Kroeker or Hamm.
"The difference in the game tonight was their (Dragons) two best players got to be on the floor, ours had to sit," said a humbled Knoll. "They were making their free throws. We weren't making our free throws. Who was shooting the free throws makes a lot of difference.
"Had we made our free throws, we wouldn't have had to do some of the stuff we did down at the end to try and catch up."
It was evident from the start the Trojans didn't have an answer for Regehr, who had 10 points in the first half with foul trouble putting a damper on Hillsboro's defense.
One of the best things Hamm could do was give the Trojans a 6-4 lead with 4:35 to go in the first quarter before going to the bench for the rest of the first half nearly 2:00 later with his second foul.
Halstead was up 12-11 after the first quarter, but seniors Adam Scheele and Peter Fast helped the Trojans hang on to the lead the second quarter without Hamm and Wade Weibert on the floor.
Macy Fadenrecht eventually sent the Trojans into the locker room at halftime with a 19-17 lead as Hillsboro hit 43 percent from the floor while holding Halstead to 30 percent.
Fadenrecht's five points led Hillsboro at the break.
"I thought if we could've converted a couple of things, we could've had a little bigger lead at half, but I felt good coming back out the second half," said Knoll. "I thought we'd be well-rested and ready to go."
Regehr wouldn't let that happen, though.
He scored seven points in the first 2:30 of the third quarter to help the Dragons overtake the lead on his way to supplying Halstead all but two of its 13 points in the third.
Hillsboro was still in the Dragons' rear-view mirror to start the fourth quarter, down 30-26, Hamm playing with four fouls, and Halstead shooting a blistering 63 percent in the field for the second half.
Junior Troy Frick ended the season scoring a team-high 10 points, keeping the Trojans within two before the floor started giving way on Hillsboro.
Not even a half-minute later, Hamm was whistled for his fifth foul to finish with four points.
Frick did everything he could to keep the Trojans in it, sinking a pair of free throws with 3:40 left to make it a 41-36 game.
His free throws were the last points the Trojans could get to go down for nearly 3:00 as the Dragons quickly sped off.
"I'm proud of how hard the guys played tonight," Knoll said. "They left it all out on the court. It wasn't like we folded or didn't try our best. We just had trouble putting the ball in the basket.
"I'm proud of how hard the guys played this year. I thought I could get everything I could out of them, some nights we shot well, some nights we didn't. Tonight was one of those nights."
The Trojans lose Fadenrecht, Kroeker, Scheele, Justin Moore, Tim Funk, Weibert, and Fast to graduation.
Expectations for the 2006-07 season should be just as high as they normally are for Hillsboro with assistant coaches Nathan Hiebert and Doug Dick guiding the Trojans' junior-varsity squad to a perfect 19-0 year.
In two seasons, the Trojans have suffered a mere loss.
