South O’Brien Players Entered The Lane At Their Own Risk As Lance Berends Blocked Five Shots. The Other HMS Defenders Are Trenton Vollink (11) And Travis Kamradt (3).

Kooper Ebel Got Two Of His Game High 26 Points Against South O’Brien On This Jam.

Ever On The Go, Emily Mutombo Pushes The Ball Upcourt Against Takara Conley In The Hawks’ Win Over South O’Brien.

An impressive beginning for Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn came to naught as South O’Brien controlled the middle two quarters of the teams’ match-up February 7 at Paullina. A fourth quarter comeback proved to be too little, too late with the Hawks dropping the War Eagle Conference contest 62-53. The loss meant that HMS would finish its conference game schedule with a record of 4-6.
The Hawks entered District Tournament play Monday night against Alta-Aurelia with a record of 11-9. The winner of that game earned a trip to Remsen St. Mary’s Thursday. The District Final is scheduled for February 21, also at Remsen.
“Too many turnovers and empty possessions down the stretch really did us in,” remarked HMS head coach Naet Hoaglund following the loss to South O’Brien. “I thought we got off to a great start in the first quarter. Our defense was solid and the ball was moving offensively. We were able to get the ball inside and attack their zone. Defensively we were able to get out on shooters and limit scoring opportunities. Things shifted in the second quarter. South O’Brien made it more difficult to get the ball inside and limited scoring opportunities. We weren’t able to contain the ball and they were able to knock down some shots and get us tied going into halftime. They continued to get open looks and knock them down.”
For the game, the Hawks went 22-for-47 from the field to finish at 47 percent. They were 5-of-25 from three-point range and 4-of-5 from the free throw line. “I thought we became too passive offensively and didn’t attack their zone enough,” offered Hoaglund. “A big part of our game is getting to the free throw line and we were only able to get there five times against South O’Brien. We didn’t get enough post touches and relied on too many jump shots down the stretch. We were able to get to within four but couldn’t quite get over the hump. Too many empty possessions and South O’Brien was able to knock down their free throws to close it out.”
Kooper Ebel was 10-of-16 from the floor and led the Hawks with 26 points. Lance Berends converted nine of his 13 shots to finish with 19 points. Keevyn Jacobsma and Lucas Kroese each scored three points. Travis Kamradt contributed two points and six assists.
South O’Brien shot 34 percent with 21 baskets in 62 tries. They nailed a third of their 27 trey attempts and 11 of 14 free throws.
HMS finished with a 41-31 edge on the boards. Ebel snatched 11 rebounds while Jacobsma and Berends each pulled down 10. The Hawks recorded seven blocked shots with Berends swatting away five and Ebel and Kroese each rejecting one. Berends and Ebel each made a steal. The Wolverines committed just three turnovers compared to 13 for HMS.
HMS 22 7 12 12 – 53
S. O’Brien 11 18 22 11 – 62