Photo by Cheri Kopveiler
Isaac Kawlewski pulls down a rebound during last week’s game in Verndale.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

New York Mills had one of its best halves of basketball on the defensive end of the court on Thursday night. 

Photos by Cheri Kopveiler
Cole Wilson defends a Verndale player at the perimeter during last week’s game against the Pirates.

After holding Verndale to just 16 points in the first half, the Pirates were able to find a bit more success on the offensive end of the court in the second half to defeat the Eagles by a score of 55-48 on Thursday night. 

“We had a fantastic defensive first half, holding them to 16 points. I thought our defensive game plan execution was phenomenal that first half, which it often is in many of our games. We have a pretty clear trend of that falling off drastically in the second half of games this year, so that’s a main point of emphasis to figure out and correct why that’s happening,” said head coach Mike Baune. 

Sam Kopveiler looks to pass the ball from the corner during last week’s game against the Pirates.

The Eagles were led offensively by Cole Wilson who scored 9 points, while Sam Kopveiler finished with 8 points and 10 rebounds. Braxton Ehnert scored 8 points and pulled down 5 rebounds and Teagan Lausten rounded out the scoring with 7 points and 5 rebounds.

Despite falling to 0-14 on the season, Baune said the Eagles are focused on playing the right way and knowing that they need to trust the process over focusing on just wins and losses each night. 

“We continue to trust the process over results and will live with whatever happens so long as we’re doing things the right way,” he said. 

This week the Eagles will host Wadena-Deer Creek on Friday night, before heading to Frazee on Saturday for a non-conference game as part of a boys-girls doubleheader. NY Mills is currently 0-14 overall and 0-8 in the Park Region Conference.