The pressure was on

The pressure to survive and advance is on every high school basketball team in postseason play. But Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn also faced the relenting pressure of Newell-Fonda's full-court defense during a boys' 1A district semifinal on Feb. 18 at Newell.

The Mustangs took control in the first quarter and kept the pressure on throughout the game. The result was an 80-43 season-ending loss for the Hawks.

"Their overall defensive intensity from the beginning of the game to the end was something we hadn't seen," Hawk coach Mark Petersen acknowledged. "They played a different brand of defense against us."

The Hawks stayed close early, but the Mustangs were able to build a 21-11 lead by the end of the first quarter. Their defensive pressure created easy scoring opportunities that led to a 45-27 half time lead. H-M-S continued to fall farther behind as the game progressed.

"They sped us up a little bit and got us out of our comfortable level," Petersen noted. "They were 100 percent pressure 100 percent of the game."

The Hawks finished with 26 turnovers, 19 of which were caused by Mustang steals.

Kooper Ebel led H-M-S with 11 points. Lance Berends and Sam Heyn each scored eight and Ben Haack added five. The Hawks made 17-of-47 shots from the floor (36 percent) and just 2-of-5 attempts at the foul line.

Kayl Jacobsma grabbed six rebounds and had two assists; Berends had five rebounds and two blocks; Ebel had four rebounds and two assists; DJ Doyle had four rebounds, four assists and two blocks; and Heyn finished with four rebounds.

For Newell-Fonda (17-5), Mason Dicks came off the bench to score 19 points, Carter Sievers scored 16, Tanner Gerke scored 15 and Trey Jungers added 12.

"They are constantly moving [offensively]. They set good quality screens and are a fundamentally sound, disciplined basketball team," Petersen said.

• First winning season in 5 years

The 2020-21 season was a successful one for H-M-S. This year's 13-10 record is the best by an H-M-S boys' team since 2015-16. The Hawks' record in War Eagle Conference play was 5-5, good for sixth place.

Petersen said before the season started that this year's team was special because of the player relationships and their desire to improve. His perspective hasn't changed.

"They continued to work hard and continued to get better. They were a fun bunch to coach," he said. "They were close-knit. It was a joy to watch them."

But all good things come to an end and that includes the high school careers of DJ Doyle, Ben Haack, Sam Heyn, Kayl Jacobsma, Jason Kruger, JP Mutombo and Dawson Schiphoff.

"We'll have some perimeter shooters and some post players to replace," Petersen noted.