Opponents get the early jump

Taking advantage of Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn's defensive lapses, Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire jumped out to an early lead and extended it with a big third quarter to earn a 72-62 win on Jan. 4 at Graettinger.

The Titans' 23-14 lead at the end of the first quarter set the tone for the game.

"We really struggled on the defensive end to contain dribble penetration and get out on shooters," Hawk coach Naet Hoaglund said. "GT/RA did a nice job of pushing the ball in transition and punishing our inability to get back by finding open shooters and hitting shots."

The second quarter was a draw, as the Titans only increased the margin by one point. But they controlled the third quarter, helping extend their lead to 67-45. Hoaglund felt the Hawks were slow in contesting shots and gave up too many second chance points.

"It was a recipe for disaster against a team that can shoot like GR/RA can," he noted.

Scoring leaders were Kooper Ebel with 26 points, Lance Berends with 16 and Keevyn Jacobsma with 11.

The Hawks out-rebounded GT/RA by a 46-30 margin, led by Berends with 15 rebounds, Jacobsma with 11, Ebel with seven, Trenton Vollink with five and Mason Brinkman with four. Brinkman finished with five assists and Jacobsma had three steals.

Free throw shooting was a plus for H-M-S, but it wasn't enough to affect the outcome.

"We ended up getting to [the line] 36 times which means we were aggressive and attacking the rack offensively," Hoaglund said. "Unfortunately, we only ended up making 22-of-36 which is an improvement, but still not good enough."

• vs. Harris-Lake Park

Playing from behind the entire game, H-M-S could not overcome Harris-Lake Park's early advantage during a 74-67 loss on Jan. 7 at Lake Park.

H-LP scored first and by the end of the first quarter held a 22-8 lead. The Hawks were able to get the deficit down to six points with five minutes remaining in the half, but the Wolves regained the momentum and extended their advantage back to 13 points. H-M-S trailed by eight at halftime.

In the third quarter the Hawks again narrowed the margin to six but could not get any closer. H-M-S fell behind by 13 points and although the Wolves struggled to make foul shots in the closing minutes, the outcome was decided.

"There were times when we got it down to six points where I thought if we could get a stop and a score we had a pretty good chance," Hoaglund said. "We just had too many empty possessions offensively and couldn't get the stops we needed on the defensive end."

With Ebel not in the lineup, the Hawks relied on Berends' inside play. He responded with 34 points, 16 rebounds and two blocks. Travis Kamradt also stepped up to score a season-high 18 points and added three assists, two rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

"I was happy with the offensive emergence of Travis Kamradt. To see him get going with his six 3's is big for us going forward," Hoaglund said.

Other contributors were Jacobsma with seven points and five rebounds; Brinkman with five points and four assists; and Ortega with three points and two rebounds.

H-M-S (3-6, 1-3) will host MMCRU on Jan. 14 and play at South O'Brien on Jan. 18.