The gym was rocking and the home team was rolling. Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn avenged an earlier loss to South O’Brien by beating the Wolverines 80-61 January 26 at Hartley.
“The total effort the kids put forth for the entire game was a thing of beauty,” remarked HMS head coach Mark Petersen. “Loved the way we responded every time they would make a run at us. We had 28 made shots and 23 assists on those shots. We shared the ball and did a lot of good things on the defensive end.”
The offensive flow facilitated 10 made three-pointers (out of 20 attempts). Each conversion seemed to fuel the Hawks even more. Overall, HMS was 28-of-49 from the floor for 57 percent.
For the second time in three contests Sam Heyn reached a career high for points in a game. The senior was 5-of-6 from beyond the arc and finished with 23 points. Complementing Mr. Outside was Mr. Inside, Lance Berends, who sliced through the Wolverines interior defense to the tune of 18 points. Ben Haack added 14 points, Kooper Ebel nine, Kayl Jacobsma eight, Keevyn Jacobsma four, Travis Kamradt three and Jordan Ortega one.
Keeping the ball moving were Ortega, Ebel and Berends who each notched six assists. Berends came down with 12 rebounds and he and Kayl Jacobsma each blocked two shots. Ebel and Ortega were the steals leaders with two apiece. South O’Brien had seven turnovers but HMS took even better care of the ball, turning it over only five times.
The Wolverines shot 40 percent from the field with 21 makes in 52 tries. They were 3-of-12 from behind the three-point line and 16-of-24 at the charity stripe. The Hawks canned 14 of their 17 free throw attempts.
S. O’Brien 7 17 10 27 – 61
HMS 15 17 21 27 – 80