Noah Kannegiesser of the Hancock Owls was a phenomenal force on Monday, Jan. 29. Noah built on his already substantial reputation by making eight 3-pointers and scoring 45 points. His teammates did quite fine too in a 95-81 victory. The Owls flirted with 100 points in this success vs. the Knights of West Central Area.
Dominant though Noah appeared, there were four total Owls in double figures with points. Connor Reese had a point output of 16. Bennett Nienhaus added 15 to the mix and Peyton Rohloff had 13. Hancock soared to its 14th win while West Central Area was left with a still-fine record of 10-6.
All the Hancock scoring did not spell blow-out. Hancock had the somewhat modest lead of ten points at halftime, 52-42. The Knights kept pace in the second half with 39 points while Hancock put in 43. Six players total scored for Hancock. Cole Reese scored five points and Tanner Pahl had one. Kannegiesser with his eight 3-pointers was joined in this category by Nienhaus and Connor Reese with three and one, respectively.
Kannegiesser led in rebounds too with six. The Reese boys followed, Cole with five boards and Connor with four. Kannegiesser was all over the court to lead in assists too with seven. A career night for him? The season is far from over. Neinhaus led in steals with three.
WCA had players with a marquee look too - consider Logan Paulson with 24 points and Davison Staples with 21. Another double figures scorer for the Knights was Brady Sabolik with 14. Jacob Bright and Nathan Kaye each scored six points. Ross Anderson and Jack Van Kempen each contributed four, and Colton Watzke had two.
Fans at the WCA court cheered as their team made nine 3-pointers, part of a 32-for-52 night in shooting by their Knights. That's a percentage of 52. Sabolik sank four 3-point shots followed by Bright and Kaye each with two and Van Kempen with one.
WCA coach Kraig Hunter was upbeat post-game despite the loss, saying he simply couldn't fault his team. He talked with apparent awe about Kannegiesser, citing the 15-for-20 shooting stats by this Owl. Kannegiesser was dead-on with his "step-back 3's," Hunter said.
WCA challenged other Owls to play a bigger scoring role in the second half, and they were up to that.
The winning coach was Cory Bedel. His Owls sit atop the 6A-South QRF rankings.
Kannegiesser dealt with double and triple teams yet he burned the nets. The senior guard said post-game "the shot was just feeling good, so I kept letting it fly." His fadeaway jumper from about 12 feet broke a 38-all deadlock and spurred an Owl run to the tune of 14-4. Thus the Owls got their ten-point halftime lead.
WCA coach Hunter doubted that Hancock's offense could stay that well-oiled but it did! Fans were treated to a crowd-pleasing brand of basketball regardless. The Knights had won four straight prior to this game, typically dominating on the scoreboard. Could we get a re-match?
Hancock won the 1/29 game on the day after my 63rd birthday. I was the sportswriter for the now-defunct Hancock Record newspaper for 15 years. Can the ever-smaller "Stevens County Times" keep pace with sports coverage demands? I don't think so.
Hockey: MBA 6, Mayport 4
Zach Bruns of the Storm led a comeback on the ice with his natural hat trick. Bruns was at the fore of period No. 3. Our Storm surged to defeat Mayport. The site was the Mayville ND ice. Bruns racked up four goals total. Jack Riley contributed two goals and two assists. Chase Engebretson worked in goal for the winning Storm, stopping 49 shots. Fans gathered Saturday, Jan. 27, at the Mayville ice, there to see the teams fight to a deadlock over the first two periods.
The third period told the story of the night as MBA outscored Mayport 3-1.
The night's first goal was scored by Mayport's Jack Ihry assisted by Jordan Sherva. Bruns got the score tied up with his unassisted goal at 8:23. Reece Groth made the score 2-1 for Mayport as the second period unfolded. Braden Soderberg and Sam Satrom assisted. MBA's Riley scored at 6:37. Then Riley scored again, getting the puck in the net with assists from Kolby Goff and Tyler Buss at 8:49. Colby Goser scored for Mayport at 13:32.
Bring on that third period! First it was Groth scoring for Mayport at 6:39, assisted by Satrom. Bruns stepped it up a notch to spur our Storm. He scored with a Riley assist at 7:04. The Bruns/Riley combo worked again to notch a goal at 7:40. Bruns continued as the nemesis for Mayport as he scored with a Hunter Gades assist at 13:39.
Engebretson's goalie opponent was Kade Susie who stopped 29 shots. All in all a memorable mid-winter Saturday for puck fans.
The state of the onion, or union
I sometimes get out of the habit of checking the "Onion" website. The satire would be most apt at present with this curious Trump presidency getting curioser.
Watching cable TV news seems a surreal experience these days. Are these news channels or are they like an endless Tom Clancy novel? We have the deepening intrigue over the Mueller investigation. I was watching Joe and Mika this morning on "Morning Joe" as the author Michael Wolff essentially got thrown off the set - Mika was most distressed about Wolff's apparent loose speculation over an affair between Trump and Nikki Haley.
"No one has accused her (of this) so why is she denying it?" Wolff asked.
I totally admire Wolff as a writer. And that is because he has a nose for where the truth lies and isn't averse to a little gossip to get there. Remember the old "Hee Haw" TV show where that group of women sang about how they "don't repeat gossip, so you'd better listen well the first time." Rim shot.
The novelist Tom Clancy is deceased. He could write a fine novel about the intrigue swirling in Washington D.C. now. Other writers will pick up the torch in the aftermath, and we hope there really is an aftermath where U.S. political life can somewhat drift back to normal. We can say "amen" if there's no nuclear bomb incident caused by our president's inartful or jingoistic proclamations.
Donald Trump! If he leaves power we will no longer take him seriously, and we'll wonder how he held a spell over us. He is a cad. Maybe the Beltway crowd likes this whole mess because it makes them, more than ever, feel like the center of the universe. Minus the investigation and related controversies, the TV ratings for "Morning Joe" (with Joe and Mika) would certainly be lower. Maybe the show would even get canceled.
Think of what Trump has done for the career of porn star Stormy Daniels. All our sons can now go online and search about "Stormy Daniels." Isn't that wonderful?
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment