By Chad Koenen

Publisher

New York Mills got a pair of statement and dominating wins in the Park Region Conference last week. 

On Tuesday the Eagles put on an offensive show as they scored 92 points on their way to a 92-68 win over Pillager. On Friday night, NY Mills held Henning to just 16 percent shooting from the field as they came away with a 61-32 win over the Hornets.

With the pair of wins the Eagles took sole control of first place in the Park Region Conference. The team is currently 6-1 in the conference and 7-2 overall. They hold a one game lead over Pillager, who is 5-2 in the conference and a two game lead over Henning, Wadena-Deer Creek and Verndale, who are all 4-3.

Currently the Eagles are ranked eighth in the QRF in Class A and trail just Mahnomen-Waubun in the sub section standings as the Thunderbirds are 9-0 on the season and are ranked second in the QRF. Henning is in third place with a QRF ranking of 27. 

NY Mills is averaging 71.6 points per game on offense, among the top 20 teams in Class A, while giving up just 50 point per game on defense. 

This week the Eagles will travel to Bertha-Hewitt on Thursday in PRC action and Browerville-Eagle Valley on Friday. The Bears come into the game with a record of 1-6 overall and the Tigers are 3-5 overall. 

Tuesday

In its best offensive game of the season, NY Mills defeated Pillager by a score of 92-68 last week. The Eagles held a 45-36 lead at halftime, before continuing to find success on the offensive end in the second half to come away with an important Park Region Conference game to break a tie atop the conference standings.

“It was our best performance of the year both defensively and offensively,” said head coach Jason Boe. “Our defensive pressure led to quite a few baskets in transition and we didn’t turn the ball over against the variety of defenses they played.  It was a great team win.”

Tate Olson recorded a double-double in the win with 28 points and 10 rebounds. He also registered 7 assists in the win.

Jonah Johnson also reached 20 points as the junior scored 24 points to go along with 6 rebounds and 5 steals, while Noah Noffsinger scored 15 points and 8 rebounds; and Derin Gaudette also reached double figures with 14 points, 5 steals and 4 assists. 

Breck Hensch chipped in with 8 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals and Isaiah Laudenbach rounded out the scoring with  3 points, 3 assists and 3 steals

Friday

As the old saying goes, defense wins championships and the NY Mills Eagles definitely put on a defensive show on Friday night as the Eagles held Henning to just 16 percent shooting from the field and 15 points in the first half as they secured a 61-32 win over the Hornets. 

NY Mills led 29-15 at the half, despite having a bit of an off night from the field themselves. In the second half the Eagles kept Henning off the scoreboard by keeping the young Hornets team off balanced all night long. 

“Our defense won this game,” said head coach Jason Boe. “We didn’t shoot the ball incredibly well but our boys gave tremendous effort on the defensive side of the ball.  We made it tough on them all night.”

Tate Olson registered another double-double as he scored 22 points to go along with 12 rebounds and 3 blocks. Derin Gaudette also reached double figures with 10 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds.

Noah Noffsinger scored 9 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 4 steals. Jonah Johnson scored 8 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists; Breck Hensch scored 6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals; Isaiah Laudenbach scored 2 points, 2 assists, Chase Keskitalo scored 2 points, 1 rebounds and Jace Rudolph rounded out the scoring with 2 points and 1 steal. 

“Our defense won this game. We didn’t shoot the ball incredibly well but our boys gave tremendous effort on the defensive side of the ball.  We made it tough on them all night.”

Jason Boe