Hillcrest grinds out win over Richards

Updated: March 23, 2011 9:50AM

Ninth-ranked Hillcrest got exactly what it expected when it hosted Richards in South Suburban Conference crossover play Tuesday night.

But the Hawks (12-4, 6-0 SSC Blue) were able to withstand the scrappy play of the Bulldogs in picked up a 66-58 victory behind the 29-point performance from Julius Brown.

"That's how Richards plays," Brown said. "We knew it was going to be a scrappy game and it was."

Brown scored 16 points in the second half, 12 in the final quarter, to help Hillcrest overcome a 28-27 halftime deficit.

"We came out and played hard and with more intensity in the second half," Brown said. "In the first half, we forced a lot of turnovers but we weren't able to take advantage. We did a better job in the second half."

Richards (5-10, 4-2 SSC Red) turned the ball over 17 times in the first half but made 5-of-10 from three-point range to hold the halftime lead. Hillcrest scored the first seven points of the second half and never trailed again although Richards did cut the lead to three.

Kadeem Thornton backed up Brown's performance with a 12-point, eight-rebound performance.

"Our inability to take advantage of turnovers has been a problem all year for us," Hillcrest coach Don Houston said. "We do the same thing in practice. We, as coaches, are going to have to find a way for us to capitalize more."

Tim Stokes scored 15 points to lead Richards. Dominque Gaddis added 14 and Josh Freeman 12 for the Bulldogs.

© 2013 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.