For the Tomahawk Leader
TOMAHAWK – The Tomahawk Hatchet boys’ basketball team split a pair of games earlier this month.
Bonduel
On Thursday, Feb. 16, the Hatchets had a nonconference showdown with the Bonduel Bears.
The Bears took it to the Hatchets early with their inside play and jumped out to a halftime lead of 38 to 21. It was more of the same in the second half for the Hatchets, as they just couldn’t stop the inside play of the Bears. The final score was 79-46.
The Hatchets were lead in scoring by Gavin Palmer with 18 points. Jaxson Werner had 14, and Brody Rigney chipped in 10.
After the game, coach Jacob Jarvensivu said the thought the Bears did a better job of running down the floor than the Hatchets did.
“We need to do a better job of hustling all the time and if we do that we can give ourselves a chance to win,” he stated. “We definitely did some nice things when it was a half court game, but we needed to do a better job of slowing things down.”
Crandon
The Hatchet hoopsters hosted the Crandon Cardinals in a nonconference showdown in the fieldhouse on Friday, Feb. 17.
The first half was a seesaw battle until the Hatchets went on a 15- 3 run to close out the half with a 35 to 24 lead. The second half saw both teams exchange runs, but the Hatchets’ offense was just too much as they cruised to a 70-52 victory.
The Hatchets were led by Tyler Jablonski with 23 points. Gavyn Palmer had 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Ethan Breitenfeld had eight points, six rebounds and seven assists to stuff the stat sheet as well.
“This is the most dynamic that we’ve looked on offense all year,” Jarvensivu said after the game. “When you go 8/14 on threes and shoot 50% on twos, you are going to have a pretty good chance to win regardless of the defense you play. I did think that we could have been better on defense in this game, but it was nice to have the offense cover up our mistakes.”
This week’s action
The Hatchets are slated to travel to Phillips on Monday, Feb. 20.
On Thursday, Feb. 23, Rhinelander is scheduled to come to town. The game gets underway in the Fieldhouse at 7:15 p.m.