For the Tomahawk Leader
TOMAHAWK – The Tomahawk Hatchet boys’ basketball fell in four games in a five-day stretch last week.
Mosinee
Tomahawk hosted the Mosinee Indians on Monday, Jan. 17 and lost 32-98.
The Hatchets struggled to defeat the pressure provided by Mosinee in the full-court and also could not get anything to go in the basket when they were shooting. Gavyn Palmer led the Hatchets in scoring with 16 points.
“I was really proud of our guys for the resiliency that we showed in the game,” said head coach Jacob Jarvensivu. “Nothing went our way, and we continued to fight. I thought we improved at breaking the press late in the second half, and hopefully that is a sign of good things to come for us.”
Prentice
Tomahawk hosted the Prentice Buccaneers on Tuesday, Jan. 18 in the second game of a back-to-back on the schedule.
The Hatchets came out hot offensively, taking 13-5 lead to start the game, but it was all Prentice after that, as they finished the half with the lead 46-24.
The second half was good for Tomahawk, as they won the half by two points, but unfortunately the Hatchet hoopsters had dug themselves too big of a hole in the first half and lost the game 75 to 55.
Tomahawk was led in scoring by Gavyn Palmer, who had 16 points. Tyler Welke also chipped in 14 points on the night.
“I thought we played good enough to win for a large majority of the game,” Jarvensivu stated. “Again, it comes down to one stretch where they went on a 25-6 run at the end of the first half to take their big lead. If we take that away, we probably win the game. I thought our energy and effort were good, but not perfect, and it will take perfect effort for us to win any game. We are getting better, and I think that that is a great sign for the future of this team.”
Goodman-Pembine
On Thursday, Jan. 20, the Hatchets took on the Goodman-Pembine Patriots at home in a non-conference matchup. The Patriots are currently at the top of the Northern Lakes conference, so the Hatchets were in for a fight.
Tomahawk started the game on fire and took an 11-2 lead, forcing Goodman-Pembine to call a timeout. Goodman-Pembine got on fire from there, however, and ended up with a 37-29 lead at half. The Patriots were led by making three pointers at a really high clip in both halves, finishing the game with nine of them.
The second half was more of the same hot shooting from Goodman-Pembine. The Hatchets hung in there and also shot well, but the Patriots were just too good on this night.
The final score was 69-58 with the Patriots taking the victory.
The Hatchets were led in scoring by Gavyn Palmer, who had 20 points. Tyler Welke contributed nine of his own.
“I thought we played really good tonight, and we just didn’t have enough juice on offense to make it happen,” Jarvensivu said. “I thought our defense was actually really good, but Goodman-Pembine shot the ball so well from the three-point line that it was almost impossible to do a good job. We can still improve on some little things on the defensive end of the floor, but I really like where this team is at right now going towards the end of the year.”
Northland Pines
On Friday, Jan. 21, the Hatchets traveled to Northland Pines for the fourth game in a five-day stretch to finish out one of the toughest weeks of the year physically. Northland Pines came into the game undefeated in the conference. The Hatchets lost by 37 points last time they played Northland Pines and were looking to improve on that performance.
Tomahawks struggled to get anything going offensively in the entire first half. They only turned it over five times in the period, but somehow missed almost all of their shots, making only three field goals in the entire first half. Those three field goals resulted in nine points, and Northland Pines surged out to a 39 to 9 lead at half.
The cold shooting stopped for the Hatchets after the half, as they came out and shot the ball much better. In the second half, they chipped into the lead, but unfortunately the first half hole that they had dug was too much to overcome, even with winning the second half by 13 points. The final score was 55-45 with Northern Pines securing their third conference victory of the year.
The Hatchets were led in scoring by Tyler Welke, who had 20 points. Gavyn Palmer had 13 points and eight rebounds.
“I thought that this was one of the best conference games that we have played this year,” Jarvensivu stated. “It was the fourth game in a four-game week, and we continued to fight, even though all our legs were burning and our bodies were telling us that we were tired. We’ll get back to work next week and continue to get better and hopefully start winning some of these games that we’ve been close in. Big credit given to Northland Pines on holding us down in that first half defensively; they are one of the best defensive teams in the conference, and they showed it in the game.”
White Lake was set to visit Tomahawk on Tuesday, Jan. 25. On Friday, Jan. 28, the Hatchets will travel to Mosinee for a game that gets underway at 7:15 p.m.