Hawks Boys Basketball Wins Big Over Marshall

Wes Vork-NSO

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Jan 7

Wes Vork-NSO

HERMANTOWN – For the third time this season the Hermantown Hawks and Duluth Marshall boys basketball teams faced each other. While the Hawks had won both previous match-ups, in the first contest on Dec 10, Hermantown routed the Hilltoppers 67-33 while in the second they just squeaked out a three point win at the Hibbing Holiday Tournament. This left folks wondering which game Friday’s contest would resemble. Cory Kucza removed all doubt early by turning in a 37 point effort to help the Hawks duplicate the exact 34 point margin of the first game and secure the 70-36 home victory.

The Hawks came out strong and built a 14-5 lead halfway through the first half, then made a second run, extending the lead to 22-6 with 5:18 left in the half. “Our seniors knew this is the last time they would play Marshall and we came out pretty focused.” Hermantown Head Coach Mike Pothast told Northland Sports Online after the game. Adding, “They (Marshall) have kind of had our number and had a pretty good winning streak going against us before this season, so the kids really wanted this one.”

Besides the hot shooting, the Hawks pressure defense caused lots of problems for the Hilltoppers, allowing Hermantown to take a 36-12 lead into the locker room at halftime.

This contests hot hand belonged to Kucza, who treated the Hawks homecourt like a Chicago voting booth, scoring early and often. At times it seemed Kucza was able to slash his way to the basket at will and score. Kucza also hit a total of five 3-pointers on the evening. “I didn’t think he could shoot like that from the outside,” a Joking Pothast commented. Adding, “Seriously though, I am very happy for him. The kid works really hard to get better. He probably shot 10,000 shots over the summer and 8,000 of them were 3-pointers, it is nice to see his hard work pay off.”

Besides Kucza’s 37 points, the Hawks were aided by 10 points from the inside shooting of Jake Lesar. Corey Anderson and Kevin Folman each added 5, Alex Comstock 4, Jeff Schade 3, and rounding out the Hawks scoring was Zach Goplin with 2 points.

Bryce Carlson led the Hilltoppers in scoring with 10 points. Adam Batinich and Matt Goldschmidt each added 8; it was Eric Miklausich with 6, and Aaron Dunphy scoring 2 points for Marshall.

The win puts the Hawks record at 7-4 on the season. They will be back at it on Saturday when the travel to Crosby-Ironton for a 2:30pm game. Duluth Marshall falls to 2-9 on the season and travel to Eveleth-Gilbert on Tuesday.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com