Following a loss the night before, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn was ready to rumble as it hosted Trinity Christian in a non-conference match-up. HMS sped out to an 8-0 lead and never looked back in handing the Tigers a 68-48 loss December 3 at Hartley. With the win the Hawks leveled their record at 1-1.
“It was nice to bounce back after Thursday’s loss to Woodbury Central,” said Hawk head coach Naet Hoglund, who picked up his first win as Hawk head man. “I’m really happy with how our guys approached the game and came out and set the tone early. Certainly, we have things to clean up and work on, but I’m proud of how we competed and the effort in which we competed.”
HMS was on the run during the game and that was a good thing. “I was really pleased with how we got out in transition and pushed the ball,” related Hoaglund. “We had 20 points in transition which is huge because it allows us to attack while the defense is scrambling to recover. We also emphasized limiting second chance points. Second chance points were largely the difference in our game against Woodbury Central, giving up 16 points, so to only give up four to Trinity was big for us.”
Lance Berends’ 12 rebounds helped HMS finish with a 34-18 edge on the boards. He also came up big in the scoring column as did teammate Kooper Ebel. “Lance and Kooper carried the load for us offensively scoring 28 and 27 points,” noted their coach. “We continue to look to get others involved in scoring. That’s going to be important for us going forward and an integral part if we are going to have success in the win/loss column this year. We will continue to work to clean up the defensive rebounds, but this was a step in the right direction.”
Augmenting the scoring of the dynamic duo were Jordan Ortega with six points, Mason Brinkman with three, Keevyn Jacobsma with two and Wyatt Borden and Elijah Groeneweg each with one. The 21 assists included six from Brinkman, four from both Travis Kamradt and Ortega and three from Ebel.
The Hawks shot 55 percent for the game with 29 baskets in 53 attempts. They were 4-of-16 from long range and 6-of-12 at the charity stripe. Trinity was 21-of-55 from the field for 38 percent. They hit four of 17 three-pointers and two of four free throws. There were 12 turnovers for HMS and 10 for the Tigers.
TC 10 9 17 12 – 48
HMS 20 14 13 21 – 68