Hiland's season ends in state semifinals for second straight season
DAYTON — Hiland wasn't supposed to be here.
The Hawks had one returning starter from last year's surprise state team. They had nine losses by the end of January. They trailed by double digits during multiple tournament games.
But here they were in Dayton for the second straight year, leading Convoy Crestview at halftime.
Until the magic ran out.
Crestview took control during a dramatic third quarter on its way to a 69-63 win over Hiland in the Div. IV state semifinals to end another impressive Hawks playoff run.
What made the third quarter so dramatic? Well, a lot of things.
It started with a Sammy Detweiler mid-range jumper.
Detweiler's shot didn't go in, potentially due to contact on his shooting arm. But no foul was called and Hiland coach Mark Schlabach was not happy about it. Like, really not happy.
"Sammy got clobbered on a jump shot," Schlabach said. "He's the best shooter in the gym and shoots and air ball by four feet. That's on me. I have to keep my mouth shut because that was the biggest stretch of the game by far."
The next sequence helped transform a six-point Crestview lead into a commanding double-digit advantage in a matter of 38 seconds of game time.
Technical foul on Schlabach. Two made technical free throws. Crestview and-one. Hiland turnover. Another Crestview and-one.
By the time it was over, Crestview turned a 38-32 lead into 46-32, eventually outscoring the Hawks 26-7 in the third quarter. The Hawks trailed by as many as 21 points in the fourth before making a late comeback but ran out of time.
Things went much differently in the first half, when the Hawks found offense early offense from Carson Habeger, Nick Wigton and Alex Yoder as the Knights keyed in on Detweiler. Hiland also limited Crestview to nine made field goals, but the Knights made up for it by going 8-for-9 from the line keep up with the Hawks. Despite trailing the entire half, Crestview cut it to 29-28 by halftime.
"If you help off our shooters, we're going to kick that and Mitch (Temple) is going to do a great job, Carson (Hunter) is going to do a great job of finding our shooters," Crestview coach Doug Etzler said. "When they don't help, those guys are going to get to the rim. Tonight, they didn't help off, so it all went to the basket."
Crestview was aggressive going to the basket all game, finishing 31-of-40 from line — partially due to Hiland putting the Knights on the line late to extend the game — when the final buzzer sounded. Hiland was 12-of-16.
Temple scored a game-high 25 points for Crestview, Wren Sheets scored 17 points and Hunter added 11. Detweiler scored 17 of his team-high 19 points in the second half for Hiland, while Habeger and Wigton added 10 apiece and Yoder scored eight.
Despite its run through the tournament, which included four single-digit wins in a row leading up to the state semifinals, Hiland didn't leave UD Arena happy.
"Our goal is to win state championships," Schlabach said. "It's not just to get down here. Credit to our athletic director Seger Bonifant. I said, 'Go schedule the toughest schedule in D4 and he tried. And we'll try again next year. Five-thousand people or whatever watch us walk out on the floor and we don't look like much. The only way we can compete with those teams is if we play the toughest schedule in the state and our kids learn to compete at the highest level."
The good news for Hiland? A lot of the players who played big minutes for the Hawks should be back next year. Detweiler was one of the top players in Div. IV as a junior, displaying an all-around skill set worthy of a No. 1 option on a state contender. Yoder showed dramatic improvement as a junior, and, at 6-foot-7, gives Hiland a height advantage in the middle over a lot of Div. IV teams. Wigton flashed a ton of potential as a sophomore has the tools to become one of the next Hiland stars. Junior Connor Beachy and freshmen Alex Miller and Ashton Schrock all played meaningful minutes Friday as well.
The Hawks will have a real chance for three straight state trips — something that's never been done in the program's rich history.
"We have to have a really good summer," Detweiler said. "We have to keep playing those tough teams throughout the season. And keep getting better throughout the season next year to get back here."
When the sting of defeat wears off, Hiland's players, coaches and fans will look back at this season fondly. Of the 13 Hiland teams to make it this far, this one was one of the least likely.
"We were not a good basketball team at that point in time," Schlabach said looking back at the Hawks' midseason struggles. "And we weren't good at either end. We just had a bunch of guys that practiced really hard. We haven't had a bad practice since we were 8-9. And we had a lot of bad ones before that."
Senior starters Habeger and Phin Killy left a big impact on this year's team after playing limited varsity minutes in previous years, and Schlabach also lauded Hiland's five seniors who didn't see much court time: Jack Hershberger, Luke Mast, Ryan Miller, Logan Troyer and Kendrick Wilson.
"You don't find a lot of kids like that in high school sports anymore," Schlabach said. "Five of our seniors don't play a lot, and those are the kind of kids at other programs that ruin locker rooms, that ruin seasons for their coaches, that ruin seasons for their teammates. And our kids don't do that stuff. I give our kids a ton of credit. They work hard every day in practice just to make the team better and I think that's what separates Hiland kids from other kids."
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Boys Basketball: Crestview beats Hiland 69-63 in Div. IV state semis
