Hermantown Comback Comes Up Just Short Against Central

Wes Vork-NSO

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Feb 13

Wes Vork-NSO

Looking to avenge a loss from three weeks earlier, a good solid start was what the Hermantown Hawks were hoping for in Saturday’s rematch with Duluth Central. The Hawks, however fell behind early. Despite some great second half play, they could not catch up and lost 76-68 to the Trojans in Hermantown Saturday afternoon.

The Hawks spotted Central an 11-0 lead before scoring on a pair of free throws 4:28 into the game. By the time Hermantown hit its first field goal at the 7:03 mark, the score climbed to 24-5. The Hawks then made a run of their own, but a three-pointer by Central as time expired sent Hermantown to the locker room down 40-23 at the half.

The Trojans extended their lead to 19 points early on in the second half by a score of 49-30. Hermantown responded, however, by pressuring the inbounds pass and pressing in the backcourt. That and a notched-up intensity started to turn things around, creating Central turnovers and errors that the Hawks converted into points. With good solid effort and execution, Hermantown started working its way back into the game. With 9:39 left in the game, Kevin Folman hit a three pointer to cut the lead to single digits at 46-54. More pressure created more chances for the Hawks and with 4:47 left in the contest, Hermantown tied the game on a pair of free throws.

Unfortunately for the Hawks, that was as close as they would get as Central recaptured the lead on a layup off of a turnover and never looked back, winning 76-68.

After playing some good basketball as of late, beating both Hibbing and Duluth Denfeld on the road, this was a game the Hawks wanted to win. Hermantown head coach Mike Pothast told NSO before the game, “This is a huge game for us because we are in a battle with Hibbing for the third seed in our section. Winning games down the stretch will help ensure us staying at a higher seed so we can have a home playoff game, the first for Hermantown boys basketball in 6 years.”

Afterward, Pothast commented he liked the second half effort but wished they would have gotten on track a bit earlier. “We had a great effort and did some good things in the second half, but we need to start out better and not dig ourselves a hole.”

Colten Zacharias and Corey Kucza led Hermantown with 15 points each. Joining them in double figures was Michael Swartz with 14 points. Others scoring for the Hawks were Kevin Folman with 9, Corey Anderson 8, Jake Lesar 4 and Zach Schade with 3 points. Darcell Williams led Duluth Central and all scorers with 33 points.

After the loss, the Hawks are 10-11 on the season and host Grand Rapids on Tuesday night.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com