Hillgrove Returns To Court With 60-45 Win Over South Forsyth
As COVID-19 continues to plague the country, teams throughout Georgia have been hit with the virus, causing quarantine shutdowns and for the Hillgrove Hawks boys basketball team, the virus has caused them to go 24 days without competition prior to their game on Saturday night in which they hosted the South Forsyth War Eagles.
As the game got underway, the long layoff for Hillgrove was definitely a factor as they found themselves in a close contest early on with the opening quarter ending in a 15 all tie and by the end of the second quarter, the Hawks would themselves with a six point lead as they were up 29-23 at the break as they outscored South Forsyth 14-8 in the period.
The third quarter would be the period that the Hawks looked to be back to form as their defensive pressure began to be a problem for the War Eagles and Hillgrove would outscore South Forsyth 21-7 to close out the third period with a 50-31 lead. From there, Hillgrove would not look back as they would go on to pick up a 60-45 win.
Following the game, Hillgrove head coach, Gregory Moultrie, said he was not surprised of his team’s slow start after such a long period off without competing against another team. “The guys didn’t get into it until after halftime as expected with a 24 day layoff,” Moultrie said noting that with the lack of game reps was something he knew would be a factor.
With the win, the Hawks improve to 11-1 under Moultrie, who is in his first year as head coach of Hillgrove and he credits the effort of his players to their start. “The guys are listening to the coaching and buying into the coaching and trying to do what we’re asking them to do,” Moultrie said. The Hawks will dive into a seven game stretch of region games beginning Tuesday when they host Harrison.
