South O’Brien got its tournament season underway with a home win. The Wolverines carried a 12-point lead over Harris-Lake Park into halftime and that ended up being the final margin in a 55-43 win. The Class 1A District 1 quarterfinal game was played February 13 at Paullina.
“I thought we scored the ball well in the first half and played good defense,” said South O’Brien head coach Kiley Yates. “HLP shot better in the second half and we missed some open looks. We only fouled 10 times which led to four free throws. Also, we only gave up three offensive rebounds after allowing 18 the last time we played. We need to play with confidence and trust our training as we travel the tournament trail.”
Doing strong work on the boards were David Bottjen with nine rebounds and Hudson Oolman and Dain Moermond with six apiece. Moermond also came away with two steals while the leader in thefts was Boston Riedemann with three. Oolman and Willie Conley each blocked a shot.
Riedemann was accurate on four of his five three-point launches and finished with a team-high 18 points. Next were Bottjen with 13 points and Moermond with nine. Oolman and Ben Woodall each tallied six points and Sawyer Honkomp added another three.
The South O’Brien attack featured 16 assists on 19 made baskets. Oolman and Woodall each notched four assists. Conley contributed three, Riedemann and Moermond two each and Bottjen one.
Those 19 field goals came on 51 attempts, resulting in 37 percent shooting. The Wolves were just slightly less accurate at 36 percent. Harris-Lake Park was 16-of-44 from the floor. Each team drained eight treys and the Wolverines added nine free throws out of 17 tries.
South O’Brien turned the ball over 10 times. The Wolves were guilty of 14 turnovers.
H-LP
8 10 15 10 – 43
S. O’Brien
15 15 13 12 – 55