Hawks striving to get in the habit of winning

Wins have proven elusive lately for the Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn boys basketball program. A young team went without one during the 2023-24 season. Though a number of those athletes are back, they are bringing a fresh attitude with them.
“I’ve seen a lot of confidence,” noted HMS head coach Naet Hoaglund. “I don’t feel like they’re holding onto anything from last year. They’re just confident in what they do. They want to win. They don’t want a repeat of last year. They understand the challenges that we had with rosters and injuries and things like that and they want to right the ship. They’ve been working really hard to do that. They’ve had really great attitudes.”
The coach talked about developing winning habits. “Going in, I thought maybe I would have to motivate them a little bit because sometimes you have a season like that and winning is a habit, losing is a habit,” shared Hoaglund. “Do you let it continue into this next year? So far the habits that we’ve established this year don’t resemble any of the stuff that we had going last year. It’s been positive. It’s been awesome, their energy and their excitement.”
The Hawk returning letterwinners are senior Jayden Leth, juniors Alex Billings, Isaac Schierholz and Lawton Schiphoff and sophomores Kolby Douma and Grant Kunzman. One of the newcomers is senior Aiden Bush. “Aiden is surprisingly skilled for someone who hasn’t played since their eighth grade year and he’s got some height,” noted Hoaglund.
The team also welcomes skilled freshmen Caden Douma and Jackson Vogt. “Caden’s got some height and continues to grow,” said his coach. “He can shoot the ball pretty well for a freshman. It’s pretty pure. I think Jackson, for being a freshman, is a little more physically ready. I really think playing as much varsity football as he did this year, that’s going to help his transfer to the next level here in this winter season. They compete really hard. They understand the game.” The other freshmen are James Carlin and McCoy Smith. Hoaglund notes that the freshman class has played a lot of basketball together, so they understand the game and they know the game. “They don’t try to do too much,” he added. “They let it come to them but they compete really hard.”
Hoaglund, who is again being assisted by Tom Lidiak, likes the way the players have meshed and gelled together already. “It’s almost like they’ve been playing together for a long time, one of those types of team where the chemistry that they have together is really cool to watch,” remarked the head coach. “I think a lot of the summer stuff that we did helped. The kids that are on the varsity squad – outside of Aiden Bush who joined us this year – in the summer were at every workout. We went to a number of different scrimmages and team camps so from this summer forward, they’ve kind of built that foundation in terms of playing together and they really took it in stride.”

The coach has noted improvement in the offensive spacing and the way the players share the basketball. “I felt that last year the ball would kind of get bogged down and the defense would get a chance to adjust, recover and reset,” remarked Hoaglund. “We never really played with an advantage in terms of half-court offense. This year our guys, so far in practice at least, have shown that they can take an advantage and turn it into a bigger advantage. When we’re playing like that – we call that dominoes – you get the first advantage, the first domino to fall with a small advantage and we keep them falling until we get the shot that we want.”
On the other hand, Hoaglund identified rebounding as an area in need of definite improvement. “We didn’t rebound very well last year,” he admitted. “Being able to rebound and hold teams to one-shot possessions is big. Hand-in-hand with rebounding is the defensive end. We’ve got to make it more difficult for opposing teams to score the basketball and to get the basketball where they want it.” Hoagland wants to see aggressiveness from his team and said, “Normally the more aggressive team is going to set the tone and we want to be the more aggressive team and kind of force our pace on them and make them have to make quick decisions and play out of what they’re accustomed to.”

The aggressiveness on offense translates to a faster tempo. “Our goal is, make or miss, take it out of the net or rebound and gone, we want the ball across half court within four seconds,” shared Hoaglund. “We want to crack the shell, crack the three point line with some kind of advantage look within seven to 11 seconds and if we’re neutral and we’re guarded and the defense has shut that down, a series of actions run and flowing seamlessly into that.” The premium shots they are looking for are wide open layups and catch-and-shoot threes. “Hopefully, it’s fun for the kids to play that way and to watch as a spectator as well,” said the coach.
The coaching staff is moving toward determining how deep the squad will go and establishing a rotation. “I’ve got a pretty good idea of the first five to six and then a lot of it’s based on role and the type of player that we have,” revealed Hoaglund. “We’ve got a solid top three or so right now in terms of shooting. I would say (I have) a really good idea of my top six right now and eight or nine would be the goal.”
Hoaglund took a look at the War Eagle Conference landscape and the team’s non-conference opponents. “MMCRU has a really good chunk back,” observed the coach. “Last year and the year before their lower level teams were really good so I expect them to be at the top one or two in the conference. Remsen St. Mary’s still has the Homan kid and at least one guard who’s really skilled and does a lot of AAU stuff so they’ll be tough. South O’Brien’s always tough. Their JV team last year was all juniors and they probably could have competed with a lot of varsity teams in my opinion. George-Little Rock lost quite a bit. Akron-Westfield lost quite a bit. Then you get out of conference and you’re looking at GTRA. They were all sophomores last year. They’ve got a 6-9 kid who’s really good. Boyden-Hull was pretty much all sophomore and junior last year so they’re pretty good. Sheldon was young. Hinton, in conference was all sophomores so they’ll probably be in the top one, two, three as well.”
The HMS head man admitted that winning is the main goal but added that it’s not the only goal. “Getting that first one after last season and getting over that hump will be huge for the morale and the confidence,” said Hoaglund. “I know these guys are excited to go out and compete and try to get those wins.” He is also looking for the team and individuals to get better and show improvement. “At the end of the day,” said Hoaglund, “I just want kids to want to compete and enjoy competing. If we can instill that in them, we’ve done our job as coaches.”

HMS Varsity Basketball Schedule

Boys Coaches: Naet Hoaglund, Tom Lidiak
Girls Coaches: Ashley Tessum, Korey Ebel
(All tip-off times 6:00 p.m. unless otherwise noted)
Tuesday, Dec. 3, Trinity Christian, at Hull
Thursday, Dec. 5, JV/V Boys, Woodbury Central, at Moville
Friday, Dec. 6, MMCRU, home
Tuesday, Dec. 10, Harris-Lake Park, at Lake Park
Friday, Dec. 13, Gehlen Catholic, conf., home
Monday, Dec. 16, GTRA, home
Tuesday, Dec. 17, South O’Brien, conf., at Paullina
Friday, Dec. 20, Remsen St. Mary’s, conf., home
Thursday, Jan. 2, JV/V Girls, Unity Christian, at Orange City
Tuesday, Jan. 7, George-Little Rock, conf., at George
Friday, Jan. 10, Boys only, West Sioux, home
Monday, Jan 13, Sheldon, at Sheldon
Tuesday, Jan. 14, Harris-Lake Park, conf., home
Friday, Jan. 17, Hinton, conf., at Hinton
Tuesday, Jan. 21, South O’Brien, home
Friday, Jan. 24, Akron-Westfield, conf., Akron
Tuesday, Jan. 28, MMCRU, conf., at Marcus
Thursday, Jan. 30, Boyden-Hull, at Hull
Friday, Jan. 31, Trinity Christian, conf., home
Tuesday, Feb. 4, George-Little Rock, home
Thursday, Feb. 6, Boys only, Sibley-Ocheyedan, at Sibley-Ocheyedan
Monday, Feb. 10, JV/V Boys, Sioux Central, at Sioux Rapids
Monday, Feb. 10, Girls only, Gehlen Catholic, at Le Mars, 7:30

HMS JV Basketball Schedule

Tuesday, Dec. 3, JV Girls, Trinity Christian, at Hull, 4:30
Thursday, Dec. 5, Woodbury Central, at Moville, 4:00
Friday, Dec. 6, MMCRU, home, 4:00
Tuesday, Dec. 10, Harris-Lake Park, at Lake Park, 4:30
Thursday, Dec. 12, JVR Boys, South O’Brien, at Paullina, 6:00 Friday, Dec. 13, Gehlen Catholic, home, 4:30
Monday, Dec. 16, GTRA, home, 4:30
Tuesday, Dec. 17, South O’Brien, at Paullina, Girls at 4:00, Boys at 5:00
Friday, Dec. 20, Remsen St. Mary’s, home, 4:30
Thursday, Jan. 2, JVR G, Unity Christian, Orange City, 4:30
Tuesday, Jan. 7, George-Little Rock, at George, Girls at 3:45, Boys at 4:45
Friday, Jan. 10, West Sioux, home, 4:30
Monday, Jan. 13, Sheldon, at Sheldon, 4:30
Tuesday, Jan. 14, Harris-Lake Park, home, 4:30
Friday, Jan. 17, Hinton, at Hinton, Girls at 4:00, Boys at 5:00
Tuesday, Jan. 21, South O’Brien, home, 4:30
Friday, Jan. 24, JV Boys, Akron-Westfield, at Akron, 4:30
Tuesday, Jan. 28, MMCRU, at Marcus, Girls at 4:00, Boys at 5:00
Thursday, Jan. 30, Boyden-Hull, at Hull, Girls at community building, Boys at high school, 4:30
Friday, Jan. 31, Trinity Christian, home, 4:30
Tuesday, Feb 4, George-Little Rock, home, 4:30
Thursday, Feb. 6, Sibley-Ocheyedan, at Sibley, JVR Girls at 3:45, JV Boys at 4:30, JV Girls at 6:00
Monday, Feb. 10, JVR G, Gehlen Catholic, at Le Mars, 4:30
Monday, Feb. 10, JV Boys, Sioux Central, Sioux Rapids, 6:00