Hillas Goes Down with Ankle Injury in Boys Basketball Loss

The Summit Hilltoppers had injury added to insult on Friday night when Cranford rolled into town.

Not only did Summit suffer its third loss in its last four games, 50-37, one of their top scorers went down with an ankle injury.

Shawn Hillas, one of the few bright spots for the Hilltoppers on Friday when he scored 13 points and grabbed four steals, rolled his ankle early in the fourth period and spent the rest of the game on crutches.

"I went for a steal and stepped on the kid's foot," he said as he was getting his ankle taped after the game. "It's hurting a lot right now, but I don't know how bad it is."

The reeling Hilltoppers can't afford much more bad news. After a lackluster performance on Tuesday night in a loss to Rahway, Summit's defense struggled again against the Cougars (11-5), surrendering a bunch of easy buckets inside again as Cranford made 20 of 42 shots from the field.

Meanwhile, Summit's shooting woes continued as they missed 14 of 17 three-pointers and made just 14 of 44 overall. The Hilltoppers also suffered 19 turnovers–15 the result of Cranford steals.

It was a good start for Summit, with the Cris Cafiero and Clayton Johnson knocking down a couple of perimeter shots and Hillas scoring off a Cafiero steal as the Hilltopper led 6-4. They trailed 9-8 after one period and enjoyed their final lead at 10-9 on Hillas' steal and lay-in 1:30 into the second period. But the interior defense for Summit began to break down over the next few minutes as Cranford scored three times inside, then got a three-pointer to open up an 18-11 lead. A fast-break lay-up by Hillas had Summit within 18-14 with 3:45 left in the half, but that was as close as it would get the rest of the way.

Despite a three-pointer by Cafiero in the final minute, Cranford took a 27-17 lead into the locker room.

The Hilltoppers hung around early in the second half, getting a Cafiero 16-footer and a Hillas fast-break bucket to pull within 29-21. But a Cranford three and a lay-up gave the Cougars their biggest lead to that point at 37-24.

Summit had one final gasp, getting a free throw, another Hillas steal and lay-in and two Dwaine Dabney free throws early in the final period to close the gap to 37-29. But the Cougars put it away with four unanswered baskets to take a 45-29 lead with 2:24 left in the game.

One other bright spot for Summit on Friday was Cafiero's nine points. The point guard had not been scoring in recent games and was much more aggressive looking for his shot against Cranford. Cafiero also had four rebounds, two steals and three assist.

Clayton Johnson added five points and four rebounds. Center Matt Wholey scored only two points, but grabbed six boards and dished out two assists.

Summit forced 14 turnovers and won the rebound battle 27-25.

"We're not really frustrated with each other, just mad at ourselves for not playing as well as we could," Hillas said of the recent struggles. "I think we can turn it around. We just have to play together and have each other's backs."

The Hilltoppers will try to find the win column when they travel to A L Johnson for a 7 p.m. tip on Tuesday.