Boys Basketball: Hebron, SC open with victories

Updated: January 19, 2012 10:20PM

HEBRON — In a contest that would’ve been worthy of the championship game, Kouts and Hebron, the top two teams in the conference, squared off in the first round of the Porter County Conference tournament. Thanks to a big third quarter and a smothering defense, Hebron advanced with a 55-44 victory over Kouts.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our defensive effort,” said Hebron (10-1) head coach John Steinhilber. “Kouts is a very good team, and for us to win all four quarters against them is crazy to me. This is a big win for us.”

The 44 points scored by Kouts (10-3) were a season low for the Mustangs. It also matches the goal of Hebron’s defense every game.

“On our practice shorts, we have the number 44 on them because that’s what we want to be our defensive average,” said Hebron guard Damon Wallace. “Kouts is a good team that usually scores a lot of points, so we were happy to hold them to 44.”

Wallace teamed up with fellow senior Cody Artuso to break the game open in the third quarter. Each player scored nine points as the Hawks outscored Kouts 18-9 in the period, giving Hebron a 46-31 edge entering the fourth quarter. That deficit proved to be too much for the Mustangs to overcome.

Hebron’s opponent in the semifinal round will be South Central, who defeated LaCrosse 76-66 in the final game of the night.

Trailing 22-20 midway through the second quarter, the Satellites (5-5) scored 16 unanswered points to pull away from the Tigers (2-9). Late in the fourth quarter, LaCrosse drew as close as four points to South Central, but the Satellites kept the game out of reach by hitting 19 of their 29 free throw attempts in the final period.

“There were three or four times where they made a real charge at us,” said South Central head coach Dan Warkentein. “Our kids did a good job of not folding up and losing their composure.”

Ben Rosebaum was the best shooter for South Central, making 10 of his 12 attempts in the last eight minutes. He finished with a team-high 19 points.

LaCrosse’s loss came in spite of a brilliant performance by Riley Charlesworth, who scored a game-high 30 points before fouling out late in the contest.

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