By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

HILL CITY -- The Hill City School High School boys' basketball team has dealt with plenty of obstacles throughout the season.

Before the year started, Dylan Anderson, last year's starting center and a Dodge City Community College football signee, decided not to play. Hill City has had some illness and a short bench. The Ringnecks primarily use five players and have no one over 6-foot tall on the varsity roster.

Tuesday marked Hill City's fifth game in eight days. On Monday, Hill City suffered a 20-point loss to Kensington-Thunder Ridge. On Tuesday, Hill City bounced back and collected a 62-58 win versus Oakley.

"Our kids are dead," Hill City coach Keith Riley said. "Last night, we just died. We had no legs, no nothing. I am going to give them (tonight) off. Five games in eight days is way too many games. You can't practice. You can't go over things your opponent is doing. You have to do a little review and go play and that makes it tough on the kids."

Hill City finished the regular season 15-5, while Oakley dropped to 10-10. The Ringnecks earned a first-round home game for the Class 2A Ellis sub-state next week.

"I am really proud of these guys," Riley, who picked up his 600th career victory earlier this season, said. "Nobody thought we would be 15-5. We thought maybe first of the year, maybe seven wins, maybe eight wins with our size."

Versus Oakley, Hill City had significant contributions from all five starters. Riley didn't make a substitution until 4:17 remained in the first half.

"We played five guys and their tongues are hanging out, but they know they are not coming out," Riley said.

The starters scored all of the Ringnecks' points, including a game-high 24 from senior Adam Pfeifer. Pfeifer, who missed nearly all of football because of a serious back injury, has led the team all season and finished 8-of-16 from the field Tuesday. Senior Matt Craig added 14 and senior Jerry Isakson had 13. Sophomore Shane Jones had been sick three days with the flu, but still contributed five points.

Hill City, which led 18-15 after the first quarter, 34-28 at halftime and 47-42 after three quarters, constantly disrupted the passing lanes and stayed out of foul trouble throughout the game.

The Ringnecks forced 23 turnovers and had just nine fouls. Junior Cayle Hubert led Oakley with 17 points. Hill City moved to 8-1 in its last nine contests and now will have a week to recover before sub-state.

"We are tired," Pfeifer said with a smile. "But hey it's better than practice, right? You would rather play than practice. It would be nice to get a little bit of a break here, kind of rejuvenate."