Wrenshall gave the Esko boys basketball all they could handle on Friday night, but the Eskomos still managed to eke out a 68-66 victory over the Wrens.
"Wrenshall has the best team they have had in 10 years," said Esko coach Mike Devney. "They have good size and good perimeter shooting."
By no means did Wrenshall come into the game acting like it would be a pushover; instead, it was the physically stronger Wrens who made the game a physical one.
"They gave us all we could handle," stated Devney. "They were very well prepared and they were very physical with us. Our kids played hard, but we seemed to get pushed around a lot."
Through the first half the strength of the Wrens kept the game dead even at 39-39 and for the game Wrenshall actually made two more shots from the field than did the Eskomos. However, Esko had a brilliant night from the free-throw line, going 24-for-29 as they parlayed the charity shots into a victory.
ADVERTISEMENT
Helping the Eskomo cause was the fact that Kevin Rengo had a career-high 29-point night, Scott Lindquist added 11, Jake Olson and Jeremy Syrjanen both finished with eight, Bryan Lindquist added six, while Ryan Eskuri, Jamie Stokes and Micah Tengesdahl all scored two points.
"Kevin had his best offensive game for us," commented Devney. "We hope he continues to shoot like he did against Wrenshall and we hope to get Kyle Hall back this week which will help in the front line."
The Wrens got solid games from their entire team as well with Chris Hansmann finishing with 17 points, Jon Bartczak added 16, Aaron Mettling was also in double figures with 12, Kyle Ziebarth tossed in nine, Jordan Berglund poured in six, Brendon Menze finished with four and Evan Swanson had a pair of points.
Wrenshall made 23 shots from the field to Eskos' 21 and the Wrens hit one more three-pointer than the Eskomos, but as stated earlier the key to the game was the fact that Wrenshall scored on 16 points from the free throw line compared to the 24 of Esko.
"We won the game at the free-throw line," explained Devney. "We did seem to get pushed around a lot because we do not have strong, wide bodies. This will be a very tough week for us with Denfeld and East coming to town and we have to become more physical."
Pine Journal sports reporter Kerry Rodd can be contacted at: kdrodd@aol.com .
