South O’Brien entered the Christmas break feeling good about the defense. The Wolverines limited Harris-Lake Park to its lowest point total of the season in handing the Wolves a 48-32 loss December 21 at Paullina. The win allowed South O’Brien to even its War Eagle Conference mark at 2-2 while improving to 6-2 on the season.
“We had a good defensive effort to hold them to 32 points and we offensive rebounded the ball well in the second half,” said Wolverine head coach Kiley Yates. The aggressiveness on the offensive glass led to a total of 12 second chance points. Jacob Van Lith and Jake Wallin were the leading offensive rebounders with three apiece. Wallin finished with 10 total rebounds and Van Lith with seven. Hudson Oolman also collected seven caroms, all on the defensive glass.
The Wolverines led for most of the first half but a late scoring flurry put Harris-Lake Park in front. 21-17. The Wolverines notched the next six points to take a 23-21 lead into halftime. The home team’s scoring streak eventually reached 13 straight points and South O’Brien led 30-21. The Wolves cut the deficit to three points late in the third quarter but were outscored 15-4 in the fourth.
The visitors were outshot from the field 40 percent (19-of-47) to 32 percent (14-of-44). The Wolverines were actually at 47 percent from two point range but missed all 11 of their three point tries. They also struggled to 10-of-21 shooting at the foul line. “We will continue to practice both and hope to improve as the season progresses,” said Yates.
Harris-Lake Park made three of their 11 tries from beyond the arc. The Wolves attempted only three free throws, making one.
Van Lith led South O’Brien in scoring with 15 points, followed by Sawyer Honkomp with 11, Wallin with 10, David Bottjen with five, Boston Riedemann with four and Oolman with three. Wallin assisted on five baskets and Honkomp on three.
Oolman, Van Lith and Honkomp each stole the ball two times. Harris-Lake Park committed nine turnovers while the Wolverines turned the ball over seven times.
H-LP
5 16 7 4 – 32
S. O’Brien
8 15 10 15 – 48