QUOTE ME, HOWIE
Hermantown boy’s basketball coach Andy Fenske on his team capturing the Lake Superior Conference title with a 73-63 home win against Superior on Thursday night, to finish 11-0 in league play:
“While we have much higher aspirations than just winning the conference title, it's a great accomplishment for our program. In all the years, we've only won four conference titles including this season. Running the table in conference play this season shows the determination and ability our guys to take care of business and win some tight games. Our most recent LSC title came in 2018 when we had a shared championship but to win it outright sets the tone for the ‘banner games’ we hope to have the rest of the season.
“Next week, we continue to play some solid competition as we ramp up for Section 7AAA play. We’re heading down to St. Francis to take on a D-1 commit and a strong backcourt, which gives us a look at the types of athletes that we'll hopefully see down the road at state. We then wrap up with our Senior Night next Thursday vs. (Duluth) East in what we hope is a game we can steal back after our sluggish performance against them after the New Year. The style of play and the way that those boys are coached by Rhett (McDonald) will give us a great look at some tournament style of play.
“The week after is when we get to play for keeps. Looking at how things are going to shape up from our side, we've earned a first-round bye to take on the winner of the 4-5 matchup. That'll be a home game for us so we hope to draw a great crowd for the home-court advantage. Our motto all year for the teams up here is that the target is on our back and the deeper into the season we go, the larger that it grows.
“We have, so far, run the tables against section teams during the season, but come March, it's a whole new level that we need to adjust to. Possessions per game drop significantly and we need to put a greater emphasis on shot selection and valuing the basketball. We know it's not going to be easy to defend our (7AAA) title, but we like the spot we're in now. We will continue to focus on us and our style, and make teams have to adjust to all the weapons and things that we can throw at them.”
UPCOMING HAWKS GAMES
Tuesday – at St. Francis (12-11), 7:15 p.m.
Thursday – Duluth East (18-5), 7:15 p.m.