South O’Brien called upon defense and rebounding to jump out to an early seven-point advantage over Trinity Christian. The Wolverines never veered from the formula and continued to expand the lead into what became a 69-39 War Eagle Conference win December 14 at Paullina.
“We played very good team defense,” noted South O’Brien head coach Kiley Yates. “We put excellent pressure on the ball, challenged the shot and secured the defensive rebound.” The Wolverines outscored Trinity in each of the four quarters.
South O’Brien also outshot the Tigers from the floor 44 percent to 35 percent. The home team connected on 28 of their 63 field goal tries while Trinity was 14-of-40. The Wolverines made six of 20 three point attempts while the Tigers were 4-of-9 from beyond the arc. Free throw numbers showed South O’Brien sinking seven of eight and the Tigers seven of 12.
Jake Wallin was 6-of-6 from the line on the way to a game-high 19 points. Hudson Oolman was right behind him with 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the floor. Sawyer Honkomp and Ben Woodall each drained a pair of thee-pointers to finish with 10 and eight points respectively. Jacob Van Lith added seven points, Dylan Strubbe four and David Bottjen three. Although Wallin and Oolman were the top scorers the ball didn’t stick when it reached them as Wallin passed for four assists and Oolman three.
The Wolverines wound up with a 37-20 rebounding advantage. Not only were they cleaning the defensive glass, they also grabbed 16 offensive boards to set up second-chance points. Leading the way were Oolman with nine rebounds and Van Lith and Wallin with eight apiece.
South O’Brien made 14 steals including four by Oolman and two each by Honkomp, Wallin and Bottjen. There were 17 turnovers by Trinity compared to seven for the Wolverines.
Trinity
8 10 13 8 – 39
S. O’Brien
17 19 18 15 – 69