On Friday, Feb. 16, the Osmond-Randolph Hawks squared off with the Hartington-Newcastle Wildcats. The two teams had played on Feb. 1 in the Lewis & Clark Tournament with the Wildcats taking home a 51-39 win.
Things played out differently on the Hawks’ home court in Randolph this time around. O-R came out of the gates hot and led 7-0 midway through the first, and led 17-10 after the first frame.
Logan Lienemann nailed a 3 at the buzzer at the conclusion of the first quarter, in which he scored 8 points. Hartington-Newcastle had a surge late in the second quarter to close the gap to 26-23 entering the halftime locker room.
In the first 2:16 of the third quarter, H-N jumped out to a 10-0 run and forced the Hawks to use a timeout early in the second half.
O-R’s boys stayed composed and rode 3 pointers by Owen Severson, Lienemann, and Xander Brown to lead at the end of the third quarter break 36-35. The Hawks preserved the lead and made plays down the stretch to seal the game, winning 49-44.
O-R’s record improved to 6-15 as the Wildcats fell to 8-12.
It was another well-rounded scoring effort from the Hawks, who had eight players hit shots from the field in the win. Lienemann led the way with 12 points on 3-4 shooting from beyond the arc and 3-4 from the charity stripe. Brown came next with 9 points and also led the team in rebounds with 6.
Hunter Buchanan, Luke Harder and Ryan Engel each scored 6 points. Brayden Shearer and Severson put in 4 points apiece, as Severson also led the team in steals, swiping 4 from the Wildcats.
Baylen Guenther made his only field goal attempt for 2 points, and tied for the team lead in assists with Harder, each dishing out 3.
The trio of underclassmen (Lienemann, Harder, Engel) gave the Hawks a shot in the arm offensively, scoring 24 of the team’s 49 points off the bench.
O-R was efficient offensively, scorching the nets at a 60% clip from 3 while only turning the ball over 13 times to Hartington-Newcastle’s aggressive defense.
Postseason play began Tuesday, Feb. 20, Cedar Catholic High School in Hartington. The No. 4 seed Hawks (6-15) were scheduled to take on the No. 1 seed Cedar Catholic Trojans (16-6) as they looked to avenge another loss on their schedule from early January.
If the Hawks pull off the upset, they would play on Thursday, Feb. 22, for the subdistrict championship against the winner of No. 2 seed Laurel-Concord-Coleridge (12-12) and No. 3 seed Crofton (7-14).
BOX SCORE
FG FT Reb. Pts. L. Harder 2-6 2-2 2 6 Brown 2-8 3-4 6 9 Shearer 2-5 0-0 5 4 Severson 1-6 1-2 2 4 Guenther 1-1 0-0 1 2 Alderson 0-0 0-0 0 0 Buchanan 3-4 0-0 0 6 Lienemann 3-4 3-4 1 12 Engel 2-3 2-4 1 6 Hawks 16-37 11-16 18 49
