HART – Post players were squarely in the spotlight Friday, Jan. 10 as Hart dominated conference opponent Hesperia, 77-37.
The first quarter played to the contrary of the final outcome for the Pirates, with both teams fighting for the lead. A back-and-forth showing between big bodies in the paint saw the lead change hands multiple times. For the Panthers, senior Ethan O’Neil scored nine points in that frame alone. Hart junior Caleb Ackley tried to keep pace with O’Neil, putting up five of his own.
“We had an idea on how we wanted to play against (O’Neil), but honestly I didn’t realize how athletic he is now. He’s quite a bit more athletic than a year ago,” Hart Head Coach Nick Bronsema said.”
Able to claim a 17-12 lead after that first frame thanks to a pair of baskets from Brendan Hiddema, Hart’s offense turned into a locomotive in the second quarter.
After notching his first three-point basket of the night in the closing seconds of the first quarter, Hart’s Jagger Lenon made a trifecta of deep shots in the second. Hesperia tried to keep things close, but the Pirates made life difficult for them, taking O’Neil completely out of the equation.
With Hesperia’s lead scorer locked down, the supporting cast struggled to find quality looks. That was not the case for Hart, as four different Pirates found the bottom of the net to push the lead out to 41-24 at halftime.
“They’re a well coached team and they 100 percent took (O’Neil) away,” Hesperia Head Coach Scott Warsaw said. “We were thinking if they were going to double him down low, that the wings would be open, but for whatever reason we lost a little of our poise.”
Scoring slowed for Hart in the third quarter, giving Hesperia a chance to dig into the deficit. Unfortunately for the Panthers, their offense fell out of rhythm completely, leading to just three made shots from the floor coming out of the half.
Hesperia’s Ian Fox goes up to the basket with Hart’s Brody Clark in close quarters.
With a 57-31 lead entering the fourth and final quarter, Ackley kept the Pirates rolling with six points to start that frame. An opportunity to get the bench involved for Bronsema’s squad saw senior Tyler Larios-Mendez knock down a three-point shot and Brody Clark drop eight points of his own.
In total, nine different Pirates contributed to the final tally of 77 points.
“It was nice to see. We had a lot of guys getting minutes in the second half,” Bronsema said. “It’s good to see them take advantage of that opportunity. Brody Clark was excellent tonight.”
For Hart, Ackley finished the night with a solid outing, scoring a team-high 19 points to go along with six rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Lenon followed up with 16 points while Hiddema and Clark had 12 and 10 points respectively. Ty Schlukebir led the team in rebounds with eight.
O’Neil finished the night with a double-double for Hesperia, posting 11 points and 11 rebounds. Ian Fox added nine points while Andrew Sherburn had five.
The win moved Hart to 6-4 overall on the season and 3-2 within the WMC Rivers. Hesperia fell to 3-8 overall and are now 1-3 in WMC Rivers play.
