Despite holding Westbrook-Walnut Grove Chargers star guard Ethan Mischke to just six points, the Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda Coyotes lost their Red Rock Conference high school boys’ basketball opener last Thursday night (December 5) in front of a big crowd at Westbrook.
W-WG, which had defeated Windom 77-45 two nights earlier and is the defending Section 3A champion, claimed an impressive 71-52 victory over HL-O/F.
Mischke hit eight 3-pointers and scored 39 points against Windom, but HL-O/F held him to six points — including just two in the first half on a pair of free throws. However, four other Chargers scored in double figures to lead the home team to a big victory.
“Our focus was to stop Mischke, which we did a nice job of,” Coyotes head coach Colby Pack said. “But W-WG’s role players made big plays, and we gave up 17 second-chance points. We also shot just 2-for-21 from 3-point range, and despite those two huge stat totals, we were within nine points with eight minutes to go in the game.”
The Coyotes jumped out to a quick 15-7 lead by the 10:30 mark of the first half, as they turned a 5-0 deficit into an eight-point lead with a 15-2 burst. Eli Fest (18 points, 10 rebounds) hit a 3-pointer from the right wing, and Tyler Madison (14 points, four rebounds) scored on a nice drive in transition to help spur that run.
To read the rest of this article – pick up a copy of this weeks Fulda Free Press or subscribe to our e-edition at http://eedition.fuldafreepress.net/sub/account_login.asp
