(KWMN)-
The Winona Winhawk Boys basketball team tipped off their sectional tournament last night against Byron as they used strong defense to come away with a victory, 55-42.
In what was arguably the most frustrating half of the season for the Winhawks (and Byron for that matter), they found themselves with a mere 13-8 halftime lead. Only 21 combined first half points as the Winhawks went 2-15 from the floor in the first half. Head Coach Kyle Martin told his guys at the half “To settle down”. Martin continued by explaining that in the first half the Winhawks ran a lot of set plays, equating to 13 points, he changed his gameplan and used more of a motion offense in the second half, which led to 42 second half points.
Although the offense struggled, the defense made sure it did not matter. Holding Byron to 8 first half points, it took the heat off of the offense, allowing the team to take a deep breath at the half and come out firing on all cylinders in the second. Although the score ended 55-42, with about four minutes to go in the game it was around a 20-point lead for the Winhawks. As most of the second half was dominated by the Winhawks, in particular the defense. I asked Coach Martin about the defense in the matchup, and he responded with a simple reason of why they’re so effective, “this team loves to play defense…you can’t say that about many teams”. Brian Cassellius erupted for 20 points, Shane Scharmach added 13 and Jasper Hedin struggled in the scoring margins but made an impact elsewhere with not only his presence, but his defense and rebounding, not to mention his distribution of the basketball. No word yet on the status of big man Wesley Wollan who missed last night’s game and every game for that matter since getting injured last month in the matchup against Northfield.
Winhawks will now take on the #2 seed in Stewartville come this Saturday. Unlike other sections in Class 1, AAA has the higher seed hosting the semi-final as well as the first round. So, The Winhawk boys will travel to Stewartville on Saturday, tip set for 7:00 p.m.
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