If someone would have told head coach Dan Bontrager before the game that he would lose Nathan Sojka to a concussion, that Matt Bonebrake and Corey Chalupa would be in foul trouble, and that they would give up 19 offensive rebounds, he would have figured that his team would have lost by at least 20 points.

But the Highland Huskies played West Burlington to a close game. They eventually lost the battle, 55-52.

“I was happy with the way our kids really battled, right to the very end. We got very good production from some of our younger kids.”

Sophomore Mike Poch came off the bench to score 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Sophomore Matt Hora also gave the Huskies some valuable minutes off the bench and gave Highland a spark with 2 three pointers in the second half.

Highland cut the lead down to two points with five seconds remaining on Chalupa’s three pointer. The Huskies fouled West Burlington with 2.4 seconds to go in the game. Orlando Baylark made the first free throw, then intentionally missed the second, but committed a lane violation.

On the in-bounds pass, West Burlington deflected the Huskies inbound pass.

The Huskies were not able to get a shot off.

According to coach Bontrager, the key point of the game was the third quarter .

“Chalupa and Bonebrake each had four fouls at this point. We did not score for the last four minutes of the quarter, and we got mixed up our defenses on a couple of possessions, which gave them a 5-0 run, and put us behind seven at the end of the third quarter.”

Corey Chalupa added 13 points while James Musack ripped down eight boards.

The Huskies’ next game is Tuesday Dec. 6 against Mediapolis.