Despite a solid third quarter from Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn, MMCRU had a ball in the air during the closing seconds that would have allowed the Royals to steal the game. That three-pointer missed and the follow-up two-point basket came after the buzzer, allowing HMS to escape with a 45-43 War Eagle Conference victory January 31 at Hartley. The contest was originally to have been played January 14 but Mother Nature had other ideas.
“I thought our guys came out and competed hard, especially on the defensive end,” offered Hawk head coach Naet Hoaglund. “In our prior meeting with them (a 61-58 loss) we let a few of their guys get going offensively and hit uncontested shots. We focused in on those guys and made some adjustments with how we defended them and made it much more difficult for them to get going. Travis Kamradt, Trenton Vollink, Mason Brinkman and Kooper Ebel rotated guarding those guys and gave great effort, limiting their shooting opportunities. Offensively, we made it a priority to attack gaps in their 3-2 zone which got us some great scoring opportunities.”
HMS outscored the visitors 15-6 in the third quarter to take a 38-31 lead into the fourth. The Hawks got the lead up to 12 points but MMCRU whittled away at it and trailed only 44-43 with 13 seconds left. Keevyn Jacobsma’s offensive rebound of a missed foul shot allowed Kooper Ebel to increase the lead to two, setting up the closing dramatics.   
Hoaglund was pleased with the Hawks’ play in the third quarter. “We were locked in on defense only allowing six points,” said the coach. “Our offense was flowing and we were getting open looks.” Not so pleasing was HMS scoring only two points in the final six-plus minutes of the game which included several missed free throws. “MMCRU switched to a half court trapping 1-2-2 defense that threw us off a little bit,” noted Hoaglund. “We became stagnant offensively and had a few turnovers and they were able to make a run at us.”
For the game the Hawks shot 45 percent (17-of-38) and held MMCRU to 24 percent (12-of-51). The Royals did make six of 20 trey attempts compared to two of eight for HMS. At the line the Hawks were 9-of-14 and MMCRU 13-of-21.
Lance Berends turned in a 20-point, 16-rebound effort. He also blocked seven shots. Ebel contributed 15 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two steals. The only other scorer for the Hawks was Travis Kamradt with 10 points. Keevyn Jacobsma grabbed seven rebounds. Recording two assists apiece were Jacobsma, Ebel and Mason Brinkman. The turnover totals showed HMS with seven and the Royals with five.
MMCRU 12 13 6 12 – 43
HMS 11 12 15 7 – 45