At the Winter break, we take a statistical look at two of the top boys’ basketball players in the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference in seniors Trey Tucker from Greene County and Collin Hill of South Hamilton (Jewell).

Both started since their freshman year, but Hill had a knee injury that cost him his sophomore season. The Hawks’ 6′ 6″ swing man is the leading scorer in the HOIAC at 23.7 points a game for a team that is 6-0. Hill has made 61.6% of his field goal attempts, which is 10.5% better than the team is shooting. He’s also averaging seven rebounds, three steals, and nearly two blocked shots per game.

Tucker is second in the league in scoring at 21.7 points per game and is on pace to score more points than any player ever has in the more than 100 years of Jefferson-based high school basketball. His shooting from the field has been outstanding at 54.9% overall and he’s 27 of 56 from three-point range for 48.2%. Tucker averages 5.6 rebounds at 6′ 0″ tall, and his 3.55 assists, and 2.66 steals per contest all lead the team.

The two have known each other for several years and Tucker explains. “I’ve know Collin since eighth grade. We played against each other the summer before  my eighth grade year in either AAU or school ball. So, yeah, we’ve known each other for awhile.” Does Tucker change anything when he’s facing a team with Hill or other standout players on it? “It doesn’t really change my mindset going into a game when we’re facing a really good player individually. I have the mentality that I’m going to do whatever it takes to help us get a win. I just want to do whatever it takes to win.!”

The Rams scrimmage in Jefferson tomorrow with Paton-Churdan, Southeast Valley, and Carroll High. The Greene County girls play Perry in Perry on Jan. 3, but the boys don’t begin the January portion of the schedule until Jan. 6 when they host Gilbert in a HOIAC girl/boy doubleheader on KG98 and www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.