South O’Brien has known it would take a supreme effort to defeat Remsen St. Mary’s and that’s exactly what the team delivered. Led by Derek Paulsen’s 30 points, the Wolverines handed St. Mary’s a 64-53 loss in a War Eagle Conference game played December 5 at Paullina. South O’Brien had dropped the previous nine match-ups with the Hawks, a streak that dated back to December of 2020.
A surge by the Wolverines late in the first quarter allowed them to take a 19-12 lead after the first eight minutes. South O’Brien carried that momentum into the second quarter, which ended with the home team in front 41-19.

“We played excellent defense and hit some open shots to create the lead,” remarked Wolverine head coach Kiley Yates. “We turned steals into baskets and built a nice cushion.”
St. Mary’s trimmed the deficit to 15 entering the fourth quarter. It was down to 10 with three minutes remaining, but the Hawks could get no closer than nine points the rest of the way. “They are a championship program so they were going to fight for all 32 minutes and did,” said Yates. “They played well in the second half, but we took care of the ball and hit 9-of-12 free throws in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.”
Willie Conley joined Paulsen in double figures, scoring 16 points. David Bottjen and Ben Woodall tallied seven points apiece with Reese Lundquist adding three and Justice Frerk one. Woodall notched seven assists and Caden Wittrock three. Conley, Paulsen and Woodall each came away with three steals and Lundquist blocked a pair of shots.
The Hawks’ effort to get back in the game included out-rebounding South O’Brien 30-22, including 15 offensive boards. Top rebounders for the Wolverines were Woodall with eight and Paulsen with five.
South O’Brien shot 50 percent (22-of-44) from the floor compared to 35 percent (18-of-52) for the Hawks. Each team hit about 30 percent from three-point range with St. Mary’s draining nine of 28 treys and the Wolverines four of 13. For the game South O’Brien was 16-of-24 from the charity stripe. The visitors attempted 19 free throws and made eight. St. Mary’s turned the ball over 16 times while the Wolverines were guilty of 14 turnovers.
RSM
12 7 16 18 – 53
S. O’Brien
19 22 9 14 – 64