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HNS Wildcats win regular season finale with impressive win over Randolph

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HARTINGTON - The Hartington-Newcastle boys basketball team got it together in just the right time as the postseason beckoned this week.

The Wildcats entered the SubDistrict tournament, which began with Monday’s play-in game against the Randolph Cardinals, having won five of their last seven contests and moved to 8-14 overall.

They earned a 10-point win against Randolph to advance to Tuesday’s second-round game.

“The boys have continually improved throughout the season,” HNHS head coach Nick Haselhorst said. “I feel like we’ve hit our stride over the past month. The guys have realized what they are capable of and have dialed in on the attention to detail and the purpose we need to play with for four quarters.”

What also helped the season’s finish was wrapping up the campaign last week with a resounding 77-47 win over Randolph just days before they would rematch in a survive-andadvance scenario.

The Wildcats built a 41-27 halftime lead and wouldn’t let up after the intermission to send both teams into the weekend with a lot to think about prior to the rematch.

“The boys played well together and demonstrated outstanding purpose and poise,” Haselhorst said. “We passed the ball well, which led to high percentage shot attempts. Defensively the boys were dialed in from start to finish.”

Kobe Heitman (22 points), Jake Peitz (17 points) and Isaac Bruning (10 points) led the Wildcats attack while they were able to keep their turnovers to a minimum, finishing with only eight. Heitman also added 10 rebounds to pace the HarlingtonNewcastle boys.

Wildcat Riley Sudbeck says that the team figured out that playing as a team rather than five individuals on the court has really aided the team’s sudden growth over the last few weeks of the campaign.

“Before, we would do one pass and a shot and not move the ball around and get it down low and pass it back out,” Sudbeck said. “We did some bonding exercises and talks in practices and did more team stuff.

“The coaches kind of got after us and we knew we had to step it up from there and play harder. We were losing a lot and now we’re playing a lot better and are a lot more confident in everything. Everyone is getting used to each other.”

Sudbeck said the team was not used to playing together since a lot of seniors carried many of the minutes a year ago.

SCORING HNS - Kobe Heitman, 22; Jake Peitz, 17; Isaac Bruning, 10; Riley Sudbeck, 7; Turner Dendinger, 7; Bennet Sievers, 6; Seth Pinkelman, 4; Reece Morten, 2; Dayton Sudbeck, 2. Randolph - Tristan Mosel, 11; Collyn Beal, 10; Justin Haselhorst, 9; Tom Korth, 5; Jacob Calder, 4; Tyson Junck, 4; Jake Harder, 2; Isaiah Salmon, 2.

REBOUNDS HNS - Kobe Heitman, 10; Jake Peitz, 7; Bennett Sievers, 3; Riley Sudbeck, 3; Turner Dendinger, 2; Isaac Bruning, 1; Reece Morten, 1. Randolph - Collyn Beal, 6; Tristan Mosel, 6; Sam Korth, 6; Justin Haselhorst, 3; Jacob Calder, 2; Jake Harder, 2; Tyson Junck, 1; Tom Korth, 1; Isaiah Salmon, 1.

ASSISTS HNS - Isaac Bruning, 5; Kobe Heitman, 5; Bennett Sievers, 4; Lane Heimes, 2; Jake Peitz, 2; Riley Sudbeck, 1. Randolph - Tristan Mosel, 3; Justin Haselhorst, 3; Tom Korth, 2; Sam Korth, 1; Tyson Junck. 1; Jacob Calder, 1.

STEALS HNS - Kobe Heitman, 5; Jake Peitz, 3; Bennett Sievers, 2; Dayton Sudbeck, 2; Isacc Bruning, 1; Riley Sudbeck, 1; Seth Pinkelman, 1. Randolph - Justin Haselhorst, 2; Tristan Mosel, 1; Jacob Calder, 1.

 

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