Hosting Harris-Lake Park January 30 at Hartley the Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn boys dug themselves a hole that proved to be too deep to dig out of. The Hawks by trailed by 20 points in what eventually became a 58-41 loss.
“We got off to a slow start and got behind early,” noted HMS head coach Naet Hoaglund. “We struggled to find a rhythm offensively and had a few careless turnovers. Once we hit a couple of baskets we settled down a bit and looked much more comfortable out there. We went into halftime down 14 and feeling decent after being down 20. We continued to cut into their lead and got it to nine early in the fourth. Give HLP credit. They hit threes on consecutive possessions that pretty much put the game away.”
The Hawks shot 36 percent from the floor with 16 field goals 45 attempts. They were 6-of-22 from three-point distance and 3-of-8 at the free thrown line. HMS finished with 18 turnovers.
“I was really proud of how our guys handled Harris-Lake Park’s full court pressure,” remarked Hoaglund. “The press has caused us a lot of problems throughout the season but it felt like we took a huge step forward in that area. We were stronger with the ball, got it where it needed to go, saw the court well and converted baskets to finish. I thought our offense continued to make strides. Although we aren’t seeing the ball go through the net as often as we’d like, we are getting the shots we want and getting better ball movement.”
Jayden Leth led the Hawks in scoring with 18 points. George Vargas added 10 points, Lawton Schiphoff seven, Alex Billings four and Zac Pearson two. Schiphoff contributed four assists, Kolby Douma three and Pearson two. The top rebounders were Vargas with 11 boards and Leth with three. Leth also had three steals and Pearson two. The Wolves committed 12 turnovers.
“Jayden Leth had a big game for us in terms of scoring and attacking on the offensive end,” stated his coach. “He was able to knock down some big threes for us. Our guys continue to share the basketball and find the open guys, now it’s a matter of converting in those opportunities. Defensively, I thought our guys battled hard. George Vargas did a tremendous job of fronting their post and making it difficult to get the ball inside. Zac Pearson was really active up top for us getting a number of deflections and making it difficult to reverse the ball. Overall, I was proud of how our guys competed and continue to work hard. We continue to improve and take steps in the right direction.”
H-LP 16 14 9 19 – 58
HMS 6 10 10 15 – 41