After a promising first quarter on offense, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn found points hard to come by. South O’Brien got the win over HMS by the score of 78-25 January 16 at Paullina.
“I thought our offense in that first quarter was some of the best possessions we have had all year,” observed Hawk head coach Naet Hoaglund. “We shared the basketball and were getting good looks. “South O’Brien put a little more pressure on the ball starting in that second quarter and we were really affected by that. We’ve had games where we can compete for a quarter or two but now we have to learn to stack those quarters and compete for the duration of the game. Turnovers continue to be a problem for us, although better than in previous games, we still had too many turnovers that lead to points. We have to continue working to improve on the defensive end to make it harder for teams to score and when we do get a stop we have to be able to secure it with a defensive rebound.”
Some of those points off turnovers helped account for South O’Brien shooting 55 percent (33-of-60). The Wolverines were 9-of-24 from three-point range and 3-of-4 at the free throw line. The 10 HMS baskets came on 43 attempts as the Hawks shot 23 percent. They were 5-of-19 from distance and missed their only free throw.
Jayden Leth fired in three treys to record nine points. Lawton Schiphoff’s six points came on a pair of three-pointers. Bradley Van Beek also scored six points while George Vargas and Kolby Douma added two apiece. Schiphoff had three assists, Douma two and Van Beek two.
The 21 Hawk turnovers were three times the number committed by South O’Brien. Vargas recorded two steals and four rebounds. Leth also collected four caroms.
HMS 15 5 0 5 – 25
S. O’Brien 29 18 14 17 – 78