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Platteville's boys basketball team must have thought they were on their home court the first half at River Valley Friday as both teams opened the SWC season.
The visiting Hillmen drilled 10 first half baskets, seven from three point range, and held a 27-18 first half lead over the Blackhawks. Hillmen guard Isaac Vorwald had five of the trifecta shots the fist 18 minutes.
But the good thing for the Hawks is that there are two halves and also that they have Preston Hying proving he can be a difference maker. Hying led a second half 30 point surge with 14 of his 16 points and helped the Hawks to a 48-43 win.
Hying scored eight straight points that took the Hawks from a 39-35 lead to a 47-39 advantage with two minutes left in the game.
"He came to the dance," coach Luke Thatcher said about the junior forward's night. "He played very well."
Hying's 16 led the Hawks and Zach Gloudeman added 10 in the conference and season opening win.
Vorwald led Platteville with 20 points, 15 in his first half outburst. Aidan Sparkman also reached double figures with 11.
Free throw shooting was one of the raw spots for both teams as they got their season underway. Platteville missed all six of their tries while River Valley was four of 14.
Practices have been hard to come by for the Hawks as they had a week off with COVID concerns.
"There are a lot of little things we have to work on because we were not good at those things tonight," Thatcher added. "We got a lot of good looks but were hurt by our inability to finish at times."
Thatcher was happier with the team's play the second half on both ends of the court.
"We competed better the second half," Thatcher said. "We played faster. We made some mistakes but we played hard. I'll take that any time."
Under COVID rules the teams played while masked. Thatcher said that did not seem to be a factor in their play.
"It was a non-issue," he said. "We only had a couple times where a player had to switch out a mask because it got wet."
The Hawks will be in action again Friday and Saturday when theydtravel to Richland Center for a SWC game and to Mauston for a non-conference test.
Richland Center is expected to have a strong team this season under coach Brian Puls who returns to guide the Hornets after a few seasons off.
SCORE BY HALVES
Platteville 27 16 43
River Valley 18 30 48
PLATTEVILLE 43: (fg-ft-tp) Vorwald 7-0-29, Digman 1-0-3, Boigenzahn 0-0-0, Sparkman 5-0-11, Stange 0-0-0 Page 2-0-5, Heer 2-0-4, Bird 0-0-0 Totals 17-0/6-43 Fouls-16
RIVER VALLEY 48: Prochaska 0-0-0, Bailey 2-0-6, Rhoades 0-0-0, Nachreiner 1-0-2, Prem 1-0-2, Hying 7-2-16, Alt 2-0-6, Wickman 2-0-4, Gloudeman 4-2-10, Smith 0-0-0 Totals 20-4/14-48 Fouls-11
3 point goals: P-9 (Vorwald 6, Digman 1, Sparkman 1, Page 1)
RV 4-(Bailey 2, Alt 2)