HAWLEY — The Wadena-Deer Creek boys basketball team saw one of the most successful seasons in school history come to an end in Hawley on Monday night. The fifth-seeded Wolverines were not able to get past the fourth-seeded Nuggets in the section 8AA semifinals, losing 74-54.
The Wolverines came out with adrenaline and hit their first three baskets, taking a quick 8-4 lead. Things would change fast though, as Hawley went on a 10-0 scoring run to take a 19-11 lead with 12 minutes remaining in the first half. Hawley would go on another scoring run a few minutes later, this time outscoring Wadena 13-3, bringing the score to 36-19 in favor of Hawley.
The Wolverines weren’t going to leave without a fight, and they clawed back and played well to end the half, outscoring Hawley 13-4 to go into halftime only trailing 40-32.
Teshe Loer led the wolverines in scoring in the first half with 10 points. Peyton Church had nine points, and Josiah Kallevig had five points coming off the bench. Sam Senske had 14 first half points for the Nuggets and Brevin Stoa had 10.
Unfortunately, the Wolverines weren’t able to sustain the success they found at the end of the first half, as Hawley came out firing on all cylinders and jumped out to a 16-7 run to start off the second half — taking a 56-39 lead.
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The early surge would prove to be too much for Wadena, as they had to resort to shooting 3-pointers to try to climb back, and the shots just weren’t falling. In the end, the wolverines would end up losing by 20 points with a final score of 74-54.
“Definitely frustrated with the results tonight, Hawley was just bigger and stronger, there's no way around it,” said WDC head coach Kevin Tumberg. “Overall I'm very proud of how the season went for us, we tied a school record with 20 wins. Our six seniors were selfless, team-first players and that rubbed off on everybody. I hope these younger guys can carry that with them into next season. It was a good year with a lot to learn and grow on. We will focus on getting bigger and stronger this offseason and come back with higher expectations next year.”
Junior Teshe Loer finished with 19 points on the night for WDC, and junior Peyton Church had 14 points. Senior Sam Senske finished with 25 points for the Nuggets and senior Mason Gratton ended the night with 14 points. Wadena-Deer Creek's final record for the season was 20-8.
WDC 32 22- 54
HAW 40 34- 74
WADENA-DEER CREEK- Teshe Loer: 19 points, 7 rebounds; Nick Briggs: 1 rebound; Lyrik Haug: 3 points, 1 rebound, 2 steals; Kobe Synder: 4 points, 5 rebounds; Isaac Hamann: 3 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals; Josiah Kallevig: 5 points, 3 steals; Peyton Church: 15 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal; Nathaniel Peterson: 2 points, 6 rebounds
HAWLEY- Mason Gratton: 14 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals; Brevin Stoa: 10 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal; Noah Nelson: 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block; Landon Bakke: 6 points, 2 rebounds; Davaun Stock: 1 rebound, 1 block; Benjamin Geeslin: 2 points; Sam Senske: 26 points, 14 rebounds, 1 steal, 5 blocks; Jack Justesen: 2 points, 3 rebounds; Derek Tibbett: 6 points, 1 rebound
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