By Skip Hunter –

One of the two teams that Coach Jamie Pap tabbed as a team to beat was Westbrook Walnut Grove. The Chargers came to town last Tuesday to take on the SWC Eagles in a key early game in the Red Rock Conference. Coach Pap knew there were facets to the Eagle game that had to be polished. He must have been doing a lot of polishing Monday as the Eagles came away with a 61-54 victory.

Hunter Vander Haar broke the ice in the scoring column with a nice low post basket. The Chargers sharp shooter, Ethan Mishke drained the first of three first half treys that he would hit. WWG scored twice more before Carter Van Hulzen was fouled while shooting and made 1 of 2 free throws. Micah Schaap scored to make the score 8-5. Later Dawson Rieck passed to Van Hulzen who splashed home a trey to tie the score. Zach Prins converted an old-fashioned 3-point play to give the Eagles the lead. Rieck drove the lane for 2 points to make the score 13-8 with 12:44 remaining in the first half.

The teams traded buckets with Schaap blocking a WWG shot, recovering the rebound, and driving in to score with his left hand. Van Hulzen hit another triple using a Schaap feed to make the score 18-10. Soon after that Schaap and Vander Haar each picked up their second fouls and had to retreat to the pines. WWG went ahead 20-18 before Cole Walhof made a free throw and Prins made a left-handed shot to give the Eagles the lead once more. Prins proved to be an excellent sixth man filling in for Schaap on both ends of the floor.

After WWG went ahead 22-21, Van Hulzen hit another trey assisted by Walhof. Coach Pap decided to see if Vander Haar could survive the first half without a foul. He scored down low using a feed from Jacob Raak. The Chargers cut the lead to 1 before Raak hit a free throw, but WWG came back with a pair of buckets to lead 29-27 before Prins went 1 for two from the charity stripe. Walhof assisted Raak for a bucket to give the lead back to the Eagles 30-29 with 1:10 left in the first half.

The Chargers had an excellent chance to regain the lead when they had a chance at 4 free throws but all were missed. Prins closed out the first half score with a good drive down the lane for a bucket. The teams headed for the locker room with the Eagles clinging to a 32-29 lead.