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Season Ends in Waubun for Hillcrest Boys

By Craig Olson, 03/05/20, 10:45PM CST

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Third-seeded Mahnomen-Waubun hosted sixth-seeded Hillcrest Lutheran Academy in a first round playoff contest in Section 6A on Thursday night with the Thunderbirds handing the Comets a 64-47 loss, eliminating Hillcrest from the tournament.

Mahnomen-Waubun was led by Tanner Pazdernik with 18 points and Robert Keezer with 16.

“Tonight, credit to the Thunderbirds. They took it at us, played aggressive and took advantage of our mistakes. They were very efficient with their possessions,” assessed Hillcrest Head Coach Ryan Garvin. “We struggled to keep our composure. We played aggressively and with undoubted effort, but let our mistakes compound - whether it was a turnover that we allowed to turn into a Thunderbird transition bucket or an ill-advised shot early in the possession when we didn't have rebounders in place or after only a few touches.  We turned it over 18-20 times and it’s hard to win in the playoffs when you give yourself that many fewer possessions.”

Leaders for Hillcrest were Thomas Zwiers (15 points, 10 rebounds), Evan Gould (9 points, 5 steals), Micah Foss (8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals) and Joel Quam (7 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals).  Sam Brumfield contributed 6 points and 3 steals for the Comets.

“And just like that it's all over,” said Garvin. “We were talking as coaches on the way home about how the season is a long one, but that for most teams, at the end of our season, we feel like it's not quite long enough and that we have unfinished business to tend to. These guys have been such a joy to go to work with each day. Our seniors have been STAND UP young men. Many of them have been playing supporting roles, but have, like men, done the work without much applause or recognition. I'm so proud of them.”

Hillcrest made just 32% (18-56) of their field goal attempts and turned the ball over 21 times.