Lance Berends recently topped the 1000 mark in career points at Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn. As South O’Brien faced the Hawks February 8 at Hartley it must have seemed to the Wolverines that the HMS junior scored that many points in this game alone. Berends ended up with 31 points as the Hawks outlasted the Wolverines 49-34. With the win, HMS finishes seventh in the War Eagle Conference with a record of 4-6 and posts a final regular season mark of 10-11.
“I was really proud of how our guys competed against a good South O’Brien team,” commented Hawk head coach Naet Hoaglund. “For the most part, it was a back-and-forth game for the first two-and-a-half quarters. I thought both defenses did a really nice job of making things difficult offensively.”
HMS led 11-7 after one quarter, but it was South O’Brien which carried a 23-19 lead into halftime. The Hawks then outscored the visitors 30-11 the rest of the way.
“We adjusted our defense towards the end of the third quarter,” noted Hoaglund. “That sparked us and we were able to go on a run and we never really looked back. I thought the energy we played with, especially during the second half, was awesome.”
A number of players contributed to the Hawks running their winning streak to five games. “Lance had a huge game for us offensively and defensively with 31 points, 14 rebounds, and seven blocks,” said Hoaglund. “Travis Kamradt had two big threes in the second half and was very disruptive defensively. Jordan Ortega came in during the first half and knocked down a huge three for us. Keevyn Jacobsma had some huge offensive rebounds, one that lead to a Travis three that gave us a big momentum boost. Mason Brinkman was solid defensively and distributed the ball against their zone nicely. I thought Kooper Ebel had a fantastic game despite only scoring six points. He had a few shots rim out early but he was locked in on the defensive end.”
Ebel’s scoring was accompanied by seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. Kamradt finished with six points, two rebounds, two steals and an assist. Ortega added three points, a rebound and an assist. Brinkmam contributed four rebounds, three assists, two points and a steal. Jacobsma grabbed seven rebounds, assisted on three baskets and hit a free throw for one point.
Berends’ 65 percent shooting helped the Hawks reach 46 percent (22-of-48) as a team. Meanwhile, South O’Brien was limited to 23 percent shooting with 11 baskets in 47 attempts. The Wolverines connected on just one of nine three-point tries and were 11-of-16 at the free throw line. Three of the Hawks’ 10 long range shots hit the mark and they sank two of their six charity tosses. The turnover totals showed HMS with nine and South O’Brien with seven.
S. O’Brien 7 16 6 5 – 34
HMS 11 8 15 15 – 49