Hawks Beat Scouts, Pirates

The Hawk Boys Varsity came away with two wins last weekend as they beat the Bridger Scouts and the Broadview/Lavina Pirates.

On Friday Broadus played Bridger in non-conference action. Broadus Head Coach Dustin Lanke told us that Bridger is down this year compared to the last few years when they had a powerhouse team, as they've recently graduated a host of Seniors.

"We played a good game, and took a lot better shots this weekend compared to last weekend," Lanke commented.

Of special note are the defenses teams are employing this year compared to last as a result of the addition of a shot clock. Lanke noted that teams have been playing more zone defense against Broadus so far this season, perhaps in a bid to cause more rushed shots. Bridger played 32 minutes of zone against Broadus, that is, the whole game.

Broadus outscored Bridger in 3 of 4 quarters to win the game handily, 54-33, scoring 0.93 points per possession and leading in all offensive and defensive categories.

The next game of the weekend was against Broadview/ Lavina, with Broadus looking to limit the Pirate's Kade Erickson, who put up 27 points in a game last year against the Hawks. Broadview/Lavina tried an interesting defensive combination at first, playing 6' 3" Erickson against the Hawks' hot three point shooter, Josh Rasmussen, and a taller kid guarding Marcus Mader. The Pirates also played a lot of zone against Broadus in this game, perhaps because they couldn't match up well against the long-limbed Dillon Gee, who scored 21 points in the game.

Broadus limited Erickson to zero points in the first quarter, but he busted out 12 in the second quarter before Broadus was able to rein him in and come back to take the lead going into the half. Broadus maintained a lead throughout the third, but once again scoring by Erickson put Broadus behind, and a series of layups by Marcus Mader tied the game to go into overtime.

Eli Heacock sunk a huge three pointer in overtime to flip the game in the Hawks' direction, and that was all she wrote as Broadus maintained the lead to bring home the win.

"Jaxon Bilbrey had a big game for us," Lanke commented.

"Jaxon had all the intangibles that positively affected the game – blocking Erickson, five steals, he played a good game."

He continued: "One of the things we really need to work on is our free throw shooting. By shooting poorly we gave Broadview/Lavina an opportunity to stay in the game." Indeed, Broadus only sank 6/16 from the line for a 37.5% free throw percentage.

This Friday Broadus opens up their first conference games and first home games against Terry, with a JV Girls half game beginning at 3, JV Boys at 4, Girls Varsity at 5:30, and Boys Varsity at 7.

Terry is expected to start a couple 8th graders and not to be a particularly strong team this season, but as we've seen before, Broadus has to show up to play their game, regardless of the opponent.

Next week Broadus plays non-conference games against St. Labre, at home on Thursday, and plays at Melstone on the 23rd.