Five Things to Know: Delano Defeats the Fire 83-61
After a rough stretch the Delano Tigers put themselves back in a good position by defeating ranked Holy Family 83-61 last Friday night. NHR was in attendance for “Five Things to Know”.
One. Back in Play. Facing one of the more difficult schedules in the state Delano won 9 of their first 13 games before Calvin Wishart hurt his ankle in the one point loss to Prior Lake. Wishart missed the next three games with the ankle injury plus he had some awful version of the flu that forced him to miss five school days. Calvin came back against Eden Prairie playing on a bad leg at less than 50 percent for that loss and upcoming games (losses to Waconia and Holy Family). The Tigers lost six of seven games in that stretch but the return win over Holy Family was the latest step in a positive direction (they also beat New Prague and Hutch). At 13-9 Delano now has Becker, Orono, Waconia, and Hutch coming up to finish the year.
Two. The Mr. Basketball Candidate. Wishart is averaging 31 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 7.8 assists a game and we watched him score 34 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and dished out four assists against the Fire. Calvin’s ability to move the defense with his dribble separation skills doesn’t just get him into space lifting to that beautiful jumper, it also moves the help defenders several stops off their man. Calvin hit 7 of his 11 first half shots and with every jumper more space opened for his teammates. The Fire tried to deny Calvin the ball but there isn’t much they could do when Wishart brought the ball up the floor or when he outraced his man off the ball to collect and pounce. Wishart made 11 of 17 shots, knocked down four threes, and hit 8 of 10 foul shots.
Three. An All Timer. Senior forward Nathan Hendler became the all time leading scorer at Holy Family with his 10 of 17 field goal shooting that included six three-pointers. Hendler is one of the best shooting forwards in the state of Minnesota consistently catching and hitting at the arc. The best part of Hendler is that in addition to hitting from the arc he is efficient in his shot selection and Hendler is always one of the toughest, most competitive players on the floor.
Four. O’Neil with Numbers. At 6-foot-8 Keegan O’Neill is scoring over 18 points a contest as a senior. The Delano ball movement wore down the Fire defense leading to consistent finishes for O’Neill and the Fire didn’t have the size or the position to do anything with Keegan once he touched the ball. O’Neill made all of his foul shots, passed the ball very well earning four assists, he grabbed six boards, and made six of eight shots. St. John’s was in the building watching O’Neill compete and he did what he needed to.
Five. Tiger Backcourt Support. It wasn’t just Wishart that shut down Holy Family, it was all the Delano guards. And it was somebody from all classes. Wishart had the big numbers and Mike Shoultz had nine. Junior shooter Derek Techam scored twelve and is one step closer to reaching 1,000 points for his career (19 more points to go). Techam is a dangerous three point shooter that makes wide open looks with feet in space. Sophomore Max Otto came off the bench and at 6-foot-3 did a lot of different things and freshman Trey Longstreet defended like a veteran, handled some without errors, dove on the floor for a loose ball that ignited the team, and he scored twice. Longstreet is surely a name to know. The whole group shut down Lincoln Cizek forcing him into a tough shooting day.