“My fear in having the game moved up to 4:30 was that the atmosphere would be lacking for a conference matchup,” said Hawley Head Coach Nathan Stoa.  “It was not lacking any energy whatsoever.  The kids on both teams played hard and the crowd was energetic.  As expected between two evenly matched teams, it was a game of runs.  Thankfully, we had enough left in the tank to make the final run.  We had big moments out of every guy that stepped on the floor in our rotation. Brevin got us going early by getting hot from the outside and controlling the tempo of the game.  Sam was able to get cooking in the second half and take it home in a big way.  Mason was hampered by foul trouble, but played really well while he was on the floor and led from the sideline despite the troubles.  Davaun Stock really gave us a great energy off the bench.  He was very accountable on defense and hit two big layups that helped spark our final burst.  Derek Tibbetts, as usual, was all over the glass.  This was a great start to a loaded stretch of our schedule. We will let Mother Nature take its course over the next 24 hours, and then figure out how we prepare for a trip to play a well-coached Pelican Rapids squad.”

Barnesville was led by Wyatt Suter with 22 points and Tate Inniger with 21.  Hagen added 10 points.

"What an exciting first half," said Barnesville Head Coach Matt Askegaard.  "It was the Brevin Stoa show for the Nuggets and the Trojans playing right with him.  We withstood a barrage of scoring (6 three-pointers) from Stoa in the first half and found ourselves only down 4 at the break.  He was literally unconscious from anywhere on the court and there was nothing we could do.  To end the half he hit a deep 3 in front of our bench with defenders closely guarding him and he literally threw the ball towards the hoop and it went in.  With all that taking place, I felt really good as to where we were at the break."

Askegaard continued, "In the second half we found ourselves in some foul trouble which took us out of our flow, offensively.  We had some timely turnovers and didn't rebound the ball well.  We either did a better job on Stoa in the second half or he just cooled off, but then Senske was the one we had to deal with.  They have a tough, two-headed monster!  This is a tough loss for us and we were right with them the majority of the game.  The final score does not depict how close this game really was."

Barnesville takes a 12-7 overall record into their home game with Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal on Thursday, while Hawley is 13-6 as they head to Pelican Rapids on Friday, riding a 7 game winning streak.