Highland Baptist opens district slate with rout of Covenant Christian

Published 9:30 am Wednesday, January 20, 2021

In the District 8-A opener on Monday, Highland Baptist scored 15 consecutive first-quarter points en route to a 64-40 rout of visiting Covenant Christian.

The Lions (0-5, 0-1) struck first on a 3-pointer by Omari Johnson before the Bears embarked on their run.

6-foot-3 forward Johnny Clark led HBCS with 18 points.

“Johnny did well tonight,” HBCS assistant coach Gerard Boutte Jr. said. “We want him to be a little more aggressive, but he did well leading the team.”

Clark, who scored at least 4 points in every quarter, showed off his range by knocking down shots from both the perimeter and inside the paint.

“He worked hard all during the offseason on his game, and it’s starting to show,” Boutte said.

Clark, who hit five of six from the free-throw line, was joined in double-figures by Myles Liggans (11 points) and Ty Olivier (10).

“Myles is averaging around 14 points per game,” Boutte said. “He’s had some big games where he’s scored 24 and 25 points, and he’s pulling down eight rebounds per game while Clark is grabbing 10 boards each outing.

“Myles has been having a great season. He almost had a quadruple double on two occasions. He’s ‘Mr. Do-Everything’ for us. He’s a big leader for us and the school.”

Olivier is having a breakout freshman campaign.

“Ty is averaging around 11 a game,” Boutte said. “He’s chipping in a whole lot. He’s a hard worker, a smart kid and he loves the game. He’s a gym rat. He’s always watching film and working out.”

Keelan Preston scored 7 in the first half before sitting out the final two quarters.

“Keelan’s a consistent guy,” Boutte said. “He had a toe injury in the last game so he had limited minutes tonight, but he’s a big part of what we do.

“We have a big game on Friday that we wanted to rest him for. We want to make sure he’s ready for Friday.”

The Bears (10-5, 1-0) host Vermilion Catholic on Friday. The Screamin’ Eagles (8-6), ranked No. 11 in Division IV, opened league play Tuesday vs. Hanson Memorial.

“I feel like Vermilion Catholic, Central Catholic and us are going to be battling all through district,” Boutte said.

Central Catholic (7-3) is ranked No. 6 and the Bears, winners of five of their last six games, are No. 16.

“We’re doing pretty well,” Boutte said. “We had two losses in games we felt we could’ve won (vs. Catholic High and Teurlings Catholic).

“We feel like we need to step up. We have to knock down the big teams in our district.”

Despite the easy victory on Monday, Boutte said his squad needs to bolster its defense.

“We win with defense,” he said. “We struggled tonight in certain spots that we need to clean up. We’re going to work on that this week.

“We’re working becoming even more physical. That’s one of our keys — to stay physical every game. We’re trying to increase that every game. We don’t want to take any steps backward.