Hillyer’s 27 leads Wolverines to first win of season

    Colden Hillyer scored a career-high 27 points and East Mills boys out-scored Nishnabotna 35-18 in the second half en route to a 64-36 victory in Corner Conference basketball on Friday.
    The Wolverines connected on just 43 percent of their shots from the field (25-of-57) and 12-of-28 on free throws but they grabbed 13 steals and blocked six shots on the defensive end.
    Hillyer hit 11-of-18 shots and grabbed 18 rebounds.
    Keegan Wederquist and Joe VanSant each chipped in seven points.

Underwood 58,
East Mills 44
    MALVERN - East Mills missed its first six shots and struggled to get into an offensive rhythm in a 58-44 loss to Underwood on Thursday in non-conference boys basketball.
    “We had some stretches where we shot okay but we don’t have a lot of pure shooters,” Schafer said. “And I thought we shot too many hooks and fade-aways. We had them in a little foul trouble there in second half and instead of attacking the basket and getting to the free throw line, I thought we played a little soft on offense and that hurt us.”
    The Wolverines (0-1) hit just one of their first nine shots and didn’t get their first field goal until two minutes remained in the opening quarter. Yet, they trailed just 10-7 heading in the second period.
    After trading baskets, the Eagles extended their lead to 19-13. Back-to-back three’s by East Mills tied the game at 19-19 with 2:01 to go in the half.

    Underwood, however, would respond with a run of its own, scoring the final seven points of the half to go up 26-19 at intermission.
    The Eagles lead extended to as many as 11 in the third quarter.
    The Wolverines made one last push in the final frame, trimming the lead to eight with three minutes to go but they could get no closer.
    Jake Starnes’ three pointer with 1:58 to go gave the Eagles their biggest lead of the game at 56-41. Starnes finished with 18 points. But the Wolverines had no answer for the inside play of Austin Konsor. The 6-foot-4 junior finished with a game-high 27 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots.
    “I think we played about three good quarters of defense and we started getting beat off the dribble too much late,” Schafer said. “Even when they missed they got second chances. Number 53 (Konsor) is a very good player. He’s improved a lot from last year. He’s thicker and he has some post moves now. He got both our post players in foul trouble. I thought he did an excellent job for them.”
    The Eagles scored just 58 points but pushed the ball every possession and forced the tempo. Schafer said the tempo wasn’t as big a problem for his team as its shooting.
    “In our conference, we might play that fast,” Schafer said. “Playing that fast against them (Underwood) might not have been the best idea but we’re just trying to get ready for our conference games. We shot too quick sometimes. Our shot selection bothered us more than the speed of the game.”    
    Joe Van Sant had a career-high 12 points to lead the Wolverines in scoring. Colden Hillyer added nine and Jacob Schafer, six.