2-5-18
BOYS IMPROVE TO 11-6
The Hill City Boys defeated Newell 70-36 on Senior night. All 5 seniors scored for the Rangers. Chance Simmons led the Rangers with 19 points. Jac Cutler scored 13 while Jacob Harris added 13 points and 5 assists. Taylor Edwards scored 12 points and had 8 rebounds. Noah Krull scored 8 points, Noe Escalante 3, and Michael Satter scored 2.
On Saturday, the Rangers traveled to Hart Ranch to take on Rapid City Christian. The Comets were 11-1 and rated #1 in the region. The Rangers dominated the game from the opening tip and led 21-3 after the first quarter and 51-18 going into the fourth quarter. Chance Simmons led the Rangers with 17 points. Taylor Edwards had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Jac Cutler scored 13, Jacob Harris 9, Noah Krull 4, and Noe Escalante 2. The Rangers improved to 11-6 with the victory. The next action for the Rangers is Thursday night against Douglas.
BOYS DEFEAT CUSTER
The Hill City Boys went 2-0 last week with victories against Custer and Edgemont. On Thursday night, Hill City defeated Custer for the first time since 2009. Custer took an early 8-0 lead against the Rangers. Hill City played better defense and went on an 11-0 run to end the first quarter and lead 11-8. It was 25-14 at halftime and the Rangers would win 59-37. Chance Simmons led the Rangers with 24 points. Taylor Edwards has 16 points and 17 rebounds. Jac Cutler had 5, Noah Krull, Michael Satter, and Noe Escalante each had 4 points. Jacob Harris had 2 points and 4 assists. Coach Gardner said, “We didn’t start the game with very much intensity, but our guys never showed any panic and played really well for the last 3 quarters of the game.”
On Friday night, Hill City defeated Edgemont 61-13. The Rangers only gave up 1 point in the second half and had very balanced scoring. Taylor Edwards had 13 points, Chance Simmons 12, Noah Krull 10, Noe Escalante 8, Jacob Harris 7, Jac Cutler 6, Michael Satter 3, and Logan Raderschadt 2. The Rangers were very efficient on offense; shooting 70% on two pointers and 45% on three pointers.
12-4-17
SEASON PREVIEW
Practice started on November 27th for the Hill City Ranger basketball team. The Rangers have 16 boys out for basketball this season.
The Hill City boy’s basketball team returns 5 seniors to the squad that finished with 10 wins last season. Seniors Chance Simmons (11.3 ppg – honorable mention all-conference last year), Jacob Harris (6.4 ppg – led team in assists last year), and Jac Cutler ( 5.5 ppg and drew 13 charges last season) have started the past three seasons for the Rangers. Noe Escalante (7 ppg on JV) and Michael Satter (5 ppg on JV) played significant varsity minutes last season.
Juniors Noah Krull (9 ppg/6 rpg- Honorable Mention all-conference last year) and Taylor Edwards (5.4 ppg last year) will contribute to the varsity squad again. Others who will be asked to step into bigger roles this year are Dawson Clemetson (5’11 JR) and Robert Aquino (5’10 SO).
New players to the Ranger program are Logan Raderschadt (6’2 SO), Javier Meza (6’0 SO), Arek Hladys (5’7 FR), Austin Groven (5’6 FR), Alan Salinas (5’7 FR), Alberto Meza (5’7 FR), and Andreu Perera (Foreign Exchange Student).
The Rangers will be coached by Blake Gardner (12th season, most wins in Ranger boys basketball history with 86) and assisted by Nathan Bayne (3rd season).
Hill City hosts Belle Fourche on Friday, December 8th. The JV will tip off at 4:30, followed by Varsity girls at 6:00, and then varsity boys at 7:30. On Saturday, December 9th, the basketball teams will travel to Red Cloud.
2-28-17
SEASON ENDS IN CUSTER
Hill City hosted Custer on February 21st. The Rangers jumped out to an early lead outscoring the Wild Cats 15-7 in the first quarter. Custer came back and led 25-24 at half time. The game was back and forth as Hill City held a 2 point lead with 30 seconds to go. Custer’s Blake Martinz scored the game tying layup with 12 seconds. Hill City pushed the ball and Ryan Skillingstad was called for an offensive foul, which was his 5th of the game. The game went to overtime and Custer would win 64-61. Ryan Skillingstad had 19 points, Noah Krull had 18, and Chance Simmons had 14.
The JV game was a thriller as Hill City came back from 15 down to cut the lead to 2 points in the 4th quarter. Custer would pull away in the final minutes to win 60-54. Dawson Clemetson made 5 three pointers and scored 17 points. Taylor Edwards added 15 points for the Rangers who finished the JV season with 11 wins and 6 losses.
6 days later, the Hill City boys traveled to Custer for the first round of the playoffs. Hill City was 10-10 and Custer was 9-11. Hill City led 16-15 after the first quarter and took a 26-24 lead into half time. Custer outscored Hill City 17-6 in the third quarter. Hill City would trail as much as 13 points, but with 2 minutes left in the game the Rangers cut the lead to 4 points. Eventually Custer would hang on to win. Ryan Skillingstad finished his Ranger basketball career with 18 points and 14 rebounds. Taylor Edwards added 5 points and 10 rebounds.
2-5-17
BOYS MOVE TO 10-6
Hill City defeated Newell 58-22 despite trailing 13-10 after the first quarter. The Rangers held the Irrigators to just 3 points per quarter for 3 straight quarter. Hill City moved to 10-6 on the season. Ryan Skillingstad led the Rangers with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Chance Simmons had 9 points. Jac Cutler had 8 points and 6 rebounds. Noe Escalante had 8 points and 6 steals. Taylor Edwards had 6 points and 8 rebounds. Noah Krull had 6 points and 8 rebounds. Jacob Harris had 2 points and 5 assists. It was a complete team effort.
Earlier in the week, Red Cloud defeated the Rangers 91-72. Hill City trailed 15-20 after the first quarter but cut the lead to 33-35 with 3 minutes left until half time. Hill City turnovers and Red Cloud sharp shooting gave the Crusaders a 14-0 run going into halftime making the score 33-49. Both teams were pretty equal in the second half with Red Cloud scoring 42 and Hill City scoring 39. Ryan Skillingstad had 18 points, Taylor Edwards 14, Chance Simmons 12, Jac Cutler 11, Noah Krull 9, Jacob Harris 5, and Dawson Clemetson 3.
The JV defeated Newell and moved to 11-2 on the season. The next action for the Rangers is Thursday night at Douglas.
1-29--17
6 WINS IN A ROW FOR THE BOYS
On January 26th the Hill City boys traveled to Wall. The Eagles were 8-1 and the boys were without 2 starters because of illness/injury. Hill City led by 2 at the end of the first quarter, 3 at half time, 10 at the end of the 3rd quarter and would hold on to win 50-40. Ryan Skillingstad led the Rangers with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomores Noah Krull and Taylor Edwards both added 12 ponts. Jacob Harris had 5 points and 5 assists. Jac Cutler had 4 points and Noe Escalante had 2.
On January 27th the boys hosted Hot Springs and won 47-26. Hot Springs was 8-3 and ranked 2nd in the region. The game was tied at 12 after the first quarter and a Jacob Harris three pointer right before half time gave the boys a 23-18 lead. The Rangers played great defense in the 2nd half and held Hot Springs to 2 points in the 3rd quarter and 6 in the 4th. Ryan Skillingstad had 13 points. Jacob Harris had 11 points and 5 assists. Noah Krull had 9 points and 11 rebounds. Taylor Edwards had 8 points and 9 rebounds. Jac Cutler had 4 points and Noe Escalante had 2 points and 6 steals.
“We are playing with a lot of confidence right now and it was huge to win those two games, especially since we were missing two starters. We still have a long ways to achieve our goals, but we definitely got better this week. We need to keep playing good defense and if we do that we can be a scary team.”
1-23-17
BOYS WIN 4 IN A ROW
The Hill City boys defeated Spearfish in a thriller!!! Hill City led every quarter and took a 10-point lead into the 4th quarter. With just over 2 minutes left in the game the Rangers led by 14 points, but 4 starters fouled out or had an injury. Spearfish stormed back and took a one point lead with 20 seconds left in the game. The next possession Ryan Skillingstad made the game winning shot to give the Rangers a 69-68 victory. It was the first time Hill City had defeated Spearfish. Ryan Skillingstad led the Rangers with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Chance Simmons had 13 points, Jacob Harris and Noah Krull each scored 12.
On Thursday, the Rangers traveled to Lead to play the Gold Diggers for the second time in a week. Hill City trailed 22-9 after the first quarter. The Rangers would outscore Lead 60-22 for the next three quarters and capture a 69-49 victory. Noah Krull led the Rangers with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Ryan Skillingstad had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Jac Cutler had 9 points and 5 assists. Jacob Harris had 6 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals, and 4 assists.
1-14-17
The season is halfway over and the boy’s basketball team has 5 wins and 5 losses. The Rangers have won 3 of the last 4 games. Most recently, the Rangers defeated Sundance 77-40. Noah Krull scored 18 points and had 7 rebounds and 7 steals. 3 other Rangers scored double figures: Chance Simmons scored 15, Jacob Harris 12, and Ryan Skillingstad 10. The Rangers had 22 steals in the game and the pressure defense has greatly improved.
On Friday the 13th the Rangers defeated Lead-Deadwood 48-29. Hill City held the Diggers to just 5 field goals the entire night, but Lead scored most of their points at the free throw line. Ryan Skillingstad had 12 points. Chance Simmons had 9 points and 7 rebounds.
Earlier in the week the Rangers battled the #5 “AA” rated Sturgis Scoopers. Sturgis was undefeated at the time Hill City played them. The Rangers fell behind early, but battled back. Sturgis led 48-44 to start the 4th quarter. With 6:00 left in the game, Hill City had taken a 49-48 lead, but Sturgis was too strong down the stretch and beat Hill City 70-60. Ryan Skillingstad had 21 points and 8 rebounds, Noah Krull had 15, and Chance Simmons had 13. Jacob Harris had 5 assists.
The Hill City JV squad is 8-1 this season. The Rangers only loss is to Sturgis. Taylor Edwards had 15 points and Noe Escalante had 10. The Rangers defeated Lead-Deadwood JV 45-29. Noah Krull had 19 points and 7 rebounds. Taylor Edwards had 11 points. Noe Escalante had 8 rebounds. Hill City defeated Sundance JV 31-19. Each Hill City player scored led by Noah Krull with 9.
Hill City JV defeated Canton JV 46-37 on December 29th in Canton. Noah Krull led the Ranger squad with 13 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists. Taylor Edwards had 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists. Michal Satter had 8 points, Hayden Hannas had 4, Noe Escalante and Dawson Clemetson each had 3 points and Jemal Klaiber had 2.
The Varsity squad lost 58-31 to Canton. Canton started out with a 15-0 lead before the Rangers brought the score to 25-9 at the end of the first quarter. Despite being outscored by only 2 points in the second half, the deficit was too much for the Rangers to overcome. Taylor Edwards was the leading scorer for the Rangers with 10 points. Ryan Skillingstad scored 7 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. Jac Cutler scored 7 points and drew a charge, Chance Simmons had 6, and Jacob Harris had 1.
On Friday December 30th, the Rangers completed their road trip in Winner. Hill City played a very competitive first half and trailed by 8 to Winner, who was ranked #5 in the preseason polls. The Rangers were outscored 15-4 in the third quarter and would lose 46-67. Ryan Skillingstad had a solid game scoring 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists. Noah Krull scored 12 points, Noe Escalante, Chance Simmons, and Taylor Edwards added 4 points each.
Coaches Comments: I thought the trip was a good experience for us and we played two really good teams. Against Canton, we learned that we need to be ready to play from the opening tip. You can’t spot a good team 15 points. Against Winner, we learned that we can compete with a top 5 team, but we have to play hard for both halves. I really like our guys and the progress that we are making.
HILL CITY BOYS LOSE CLOSE ONE
The Hill City boys traveled to Belle Fourche for the season opener. In the varsity game, the Rangers lost a heart breaker 62-60. The game was tied 20-20 at halftime and the Rangers led 45-38 at the end of the 3rd quarter. Belle Fourche came storming back and with 4 seconds left the Rangers had one final shot. Ryan Skillingstad just missed at the buzzer. Chance Simmons led the Rangers with 17 points. Jacob Harris had 13 points, Ryan Skillingstad 10, Jac Cutler 8, Noah Krull 6, Taylor Edwards 4, and Noe Escalante and Brenden Johnson each scored 1 point. Skillingstad and Simmons each had 7 rebounds to lead the Rangers while Michael Satter and Jacob Harris had 3 assists each.
The junior varsity won a thriller 62-59. Taylor Edwards led the way with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Noe Escalante provided 15 points, Noah Krull had 13, Dawson Clemetson 7, and Michael Satter had 6. Krull and Edwards each had 4 assists.
The next action for the Rangers is Thursday night in Hill City against New Underwood.