Photo by Cheri Kopveiler
Braxton Ehnert takes a shot in the lane during last week’s game against Pillager.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Following a busy late December slate of games the boys basketball schedule eased a bit last week as the New York Mills Eagles had just one game on their schedule. On Thursday night the Eagles traveled to Pillager to take on a Huskies team that came into the game with a 2-5 record. 

Photo by Cheri Kopveiler
Hunter Bosman drives to the basket during last week’s game in Pillager.

Unfortunately, the Eagles ran into a big, tough and physical Pillager team and fell by a score of 54-34.

Head coach Mike Baune said the Eagles matched the physicality of the Huskies throughout the game, which helped the team on the defensive end of the court. 

“I thought we matched their physicality throughout the game which allowed us to hold them to 54 points. I continue to be impressed with our defensive effort and execution of the game plan on that end of the court. Tough defense is our main identity,” he said. “Unfortunately scoring has proven to be incredibly difficult again this season. We are continuing to work on shooting, scoring inside and play making for others and hope to keep seeing improvement on that end, which is necessary for us to win some of the closer games we will be involved in.”

The Eagles were led offensively by Sam Kopveiler who scored 13 points and pulled down 9 rebounds.

This week the Eagles, who are 0-11 on the season, will head back into the Park Region Conference for a pair of games on the schedule. On Tuesday night the Eagles hosted the 8-4 Bertha-Hewitt Bears, before heading to ninth ranked Henning on Thursday to take on the Hornets who are 9-2 overall.