South O’Brien stole a victory over Trinity Christian – but not in the usual sense. Steals by the Wolverines translated to points and resulted in a 78-22 War Eagle Conference win over the Tigers December 12 at Paullina.
“We were very aggressive with 22 steals,” noted South O’Brien head coach Kiley Yates. “We forced them into 35 turnovers and had numerous transition opportunities off of live ball turnovers that we converted to baskets. It was a great defensive effort for 32 minutes.” The Wolverines had a specific plan to defend Trinity’s leading scorer, Dustin Hoksbergen “We built a wall in front of number 24 with two or three guys and defensive rebounded very well,” said Yates.
The Tigers tied the score at 6-6 with four minutes gone in the first quarter. Their seventh point didn’t come until the start of third quarter. In between the Wolverines put thirty on the board.
The points off turnovers helped South O’Brien shoot 55 percent for the game with 31 baskets in 56 attempts. They also shot well from three-point range, going 6-for-14. The Tigers’ 0-of-7 result from long range was part of a 23 percent shooting night in which they were 8-of-35 overall. From the free throw line the Wolverines were 10-of-15 and Trinity 6-of-13.
Derek Paulsen scored 24 points and Willie Conley added 20 points. Not coincidently, they topped the steals column as well with eight and seven respectively. The home team got seven points from Ben Woodall, six from Jaden Kreber, five from Gabe Moermond, four from David Bottjen, three from both Brady Riedemann and Logan Dau and two each from Justice Frerk, Reese Lundquist and Aaron Funkhauser. The offense included four assists from Woodall and three from Conley. The Wolverines limited their turnovers to eight.
A number of players also contributed on the boards but the leaders, with three rebounds each, were Bottjen, Woodall and Frerk. Conley blocked two shots.
Trinity
6 0 9 7 – 22
S. O’Brien
15 21 21 21 – 78

Wolverine boys get road win at George-Little Rock
South O’Brien built a big fourth-quarter lead over George-Little Rock and then held on for a 63-58 win December 15 at George. The Wolverines held a 54-39 advantage and, despite the late GLR rally, were able to improve to 4-0 in the War Eagle Conference.
The two-pronged scoring attack of the Wolverines featured 24 points from David Bottjen and 23 from Derek Paulsen. Bottjen nailed five three-pointers and Paulsen added three baskets from beyond the arc. Ben Woodall contributed nine points, Jaden Kreber six and Justice Frerk one.
The visitors went 24-for-59 from the field for 41 percent. There were assists on half of those baskets with Ben Woodall providing four and Bottjen three. South O’Brien was 5-of-8 at the free throw line. George-Little Rock sank five of 10 free throws and 21 of 55 field goal attempts (38 percent).
Paulsen made five steals as the Mustangs turned the ball over 19 times. South O’Brien committed just seven turnovers. The 26 Wolverine rebounds included eight from Bottjen and six from Paulsen.
S. O’Brien 14 15 17 17 – 63
G-LR 13 9 15 21 – 58