The Osmond-Randolph Hawks faced another busy week of basketball in the Clark Division of the Lewis and Clark Conference tournament this week. In the quarterfinal opener, the team faced Winside who dealt the Hawks a narrow defeat the previous week.
The black and gold were able to win the season series with a hardfought win, 59-55, their fourth of the season. Xander Brown led the way in the game with 16 points on the night, and also chipped in 7 rebounds. Hunter Buchanan also had a good scoring effort with 14 and Owen Severson also ended with double figure scoring at 10. Brayden Shearer continued his dominance on the defensive end with 12 rebounds and 3 steals while dishing out 4 assists.
One key to the game was a seasonlow 9 turnovers that allowed the offense to get on track and turn back a strong effort from the Wildcats.
BOX SCORE
FG FT Reb. Pts. L. Harder 0-1 1-2 3 1 Brown 6-18 2-3 7 16 Shearer 1-5 0-2 12 2 Severson 3-7 3-4 2 10 Guenther 2-7 2-2 3 7 Alderson 0-0 0-0 0 0 Buchanan 5-12 2-2 0 14 Lienemann 2-5 0-0 0 5 Engel 2-3 0-0 4 4 Hawks 21-58 10-15 31 59 In the semifinal round, the Hawks traveled to Hartington to take on the Wildcats. The recent hot shooting from the Hawks was absent in this one as the team struggled at the nets, shooting 28% and came away with a 39-51 loss.
The Hawk bench provided a scoring boost on the evening with three reserves leading the way in scoring with Ryan Engel’s season-high 12 points, 8 points from Logan Lienemann, and 7 from fellow sophomore Luke Harder. Hunter Buchanan added 7 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists.
Finally, on Saturday in the third place game for the bracket, the Hawks again struggled in the Hartington gym to make shots in a game against Tri-County Northeast (Allen-Emerson-Hubbard). The Hawks traded leads with the Wolf Pack the whole game and had a last second shot fall off the rim in a 43-45 loss.
Owen Severson led the way on the night with a monster game and seasonhigh 21 points along with 6 rebounds, and 3 steals. Luke Harder continued a late-season surge with 7 points and 5 rebounds, Brayden Shearer kept his strong performance on the glass going with 12 rebounds to go along with 4 points, Hunter added 4 points and Logan, Ryan, and Matthew Alderson each added 2.
The Hawks couldn’t take advantage of the free throw line, making only 14-24 on the night. However the team played hard to the very end, despite being down a starter in Xander Brown who is day to day with an ankle injury.
The Hawks continued recent success, taking care of the ball with only 10 turnovers, but just couldn’t get a timely bucket to come away with a victory.
No stats available The season begins winding down with a Monday make-up game at home with Wausa, followed by another home tilt against the Stuart Broncos on Friday. The now 4-14 Hawks will hope some home cooking can lead to a strong end of the regular season heading into post-season play.
