High School Boys Basketball
Hartsburg-Emden defeats Midwest Central 56-55

 

[January 22, 2024] 

The Hartsburg-Emden Stags won a thriller over the Midwest Central Raiders in Manito on Friday night. After trailing for three quarters of the game, the Stags staged a comeback in the fourth quarter and won by a final score of 56-55.

The Raiders held a 22-12 lead over the Stags in the first quarter. Noah Doolin and Carson Zinser each had threes for the Stags and Evan Cross led the team with four points in the opening quarter. Jace Whitted also added a basket.

The Raiders were up 34-25 at the half over the Stags.

A great third quarter by the Stags pulled them to within five points, 47-42 the score. Cross led the team with eight points and Whitted poured in five points.

The Stags outscored the Raiders 14-8 in the final quarter, with Cross scoring the game-winning basket.

The Stags won the Tomahawk Conference game by a final score of 56-55.

Evan Cross led all scorers with 24 points.

Carson Zinser tossed in 12 points.

Jace Whitted hit double-figures with 11 points.

Noah Doolin made three 3s in the game for 9 total points.

The Stags are now 5-16 on the season.

Hartem head coach Rase Sherwood was very proud of his team after the win.

“This team just doesn’t quit no matter what the score and they are starting to see the results of that effort,” said Sherwood. “After being down ten points at the end of the first quarter, we won every quarter after that. Down the stretch, I think every one of our guys made an impact play. Carson Zinser hit the free throw to tie the game. Jace Whitted had the assist to Evan Cross for the game-winning basket. Noah Doolin closed out on their shooter and jumped in the passing lane causing a turnover on their last possession, and Peyton Swinford made the right read to get the ball safely inbounds against their pressure to run the clock out. It was a great win for the guys against a conference foe.

That was the third win in a row for this program, which is something that hasn’t been done in a while here. We have talked about how last year’s team and this year’s team have started to change the culture here. The community is very supportive and we are excited about the future.”

Evan Cross is leading the team in a handful of categories. Cross is averaging 18 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.

Fun Facts about Rase Sherwood:

Let’s start with Rase Sherwood’s dad who coached Kari Froebe’s dad at Bushnell. Small world.

Rase Sherwood’s dad also coached at Balyki.

Sherwood himself coached roughly ten years he said at Springfield Christian, with WLB and the Froebe’s being their biggest rival. Sherwood also assisted at Springfield Lutheran High School while his daughter attended school there. And he assisted at Springfield Calvary and Hartem while his son attended those schools. Rase Jr. now plays college ball for Blackburn while Rase did his wife a favor and took the Varsity job at Hartem.

In his words, “My wife jokingly said that I should take the Varsity job because she wasn’t planning on filling all that time that I spent in the gym with Rase Jr. over the past years.”

Scoring

Hartsburg-Emden 56

Cross 24
Zinser 12
Whitted 11
Doolin 9

Midwest Central 55

Canada 17
Dawe 13
Schmidt 8
Schnoor 8
Carroll 7
Pfieffer 2

[Teena Lowery]