A challenging and struggling year

With only two returning players with any varsity experience, the Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn boys' basketball team faced a major rebuilding task during the 2023-24 season.

Unable to score consistently and outmanned in most games, the Hawks finished 0-22 overall and 0-10 in the War Eagle Conference. Despite negative outcomes on game nights, Hawk coach Naet Hoaglund saw progress during the season.

"Obviously a challenging and struggling year in terms of results," he acknowledged. "Our ultimate goal was to be playing our best basketball at the end of the season. I think if you look at our last six games, other than the South O'Brien game, we were playing some of our best basketball."

Overcoming early-season struggles helped the Hawks mature as a team.

"I think early in the year we would get caught up in the scores and results of games. Toward the end of the year I think we finally learned to let go of the result and just focus on playing," Hoaglund noted. "I thought we made a lot of growth and gained valuable experience with some of our younger guys. We had guys have to step into roles they probably weren't quite ready for and they did so eagerly and with courage."

Seniors George Vargas and Zac Pearson were valuable contributors all season.

"They played with great effort, they kept a positive attitude and they showed tremendous leadership for us," Hoaglund said. "These guys handled the adversity and challenges from this season with great character and I'm proud of them for that."

Looking forward, Hoaglund acknowledges that H-M-S needs to improve in several areas.

"I'm confident our guys are willing to do the work required to get better," he said. "We'll earn the outcomes we want when our actions are good enough to create them and that's only possible through disciplined hard work."

Statistics for the season are listed below.

Points: Lawton Schiphoff 169, Jayden Leth 158, George Vargas 97, Isaac Schierholz 79, Bradley Van Beek 57, Zac Pearson 48, Josh Cruz 47, Alex Billings 37, Kolby Douma 27, Brody Meendering 6, Grant Kunzman 4.

Rebounds: Vargas 120, Leth 69, Schiphoff 58, Billings 45, Schierholz 42, Van Beek 37, Pearson 28, Cruz 26, Douma 25, Carter Dolphin 2, Kunzman 1.

Assists: Schiphoff 33, Leth 29, Douma 26, Cruz, Vargas 22, Pearson 21, Van Beek 15, Schierholz 7, Kunzman 4, Billings 2, Dolphin 1.

Steals: Vargas 29, Schiphoff 25, Leth 20, Cruz 14, Billings 10, Douma, Van Beek 9, Pearson, Schierholz 8.

Blocks: Leth 11, Vargas 5, Billings 4, Douma, Schierholz, Van Beek 3, Cruz, Schiphoff 1.

Team Scoring/Avg.: 729/33.1

Opponent Scoring/Avg.: 1,463/66.5

Team Shooting/Pct.: 270/926, 29.2

Team Free Throw Shooting/Pct.: 70/143, 49.0.

Team Rebounds (O/D): 123/341, 464.

Team Assists: 182.

Team Steals: 132.

Team Blocks: 31.

Team Turnovers: 401.