Hawks thrive in transition to take down Condon

The team traveled to Joseph Friday; results of the non-conference game were unavailable at press time.

“It’s a good test for us tomorrow, a ranked team, on their floor,” coach Darrin Lingel said.

The team takes a week off from competition, heading to Dufur on Jan. 4 and at home against Southwest Christian on Jan. 5.

Lingel was generally pleased with the Condon effort.

“We played well, used a good defensive strategy, and executed well,” Lingel said. “Rebounding was suspect; we need to be more physical.

“We finally got our transition going, something of importance we’ve been working on, put pressure on them to get it back, and move the ball after we get it on defense and after it,” Lingel said.

Bench players Kai Robertson and Skyler Leeson contributed well to the effort.

“Kai is playing well off bench, and he came in after Bailey (Holste) got into foul trouble,” Lingel said.

Leeson is gaining confidence to go with his athleticism, he said.

“I’m looking forward to using him more. When those players are playing well, it’s easier as a coach. I can look down the bench and pull them in and know we can go to them,” Lingel said.

Seniors Derek Johnston and Caleb Lingel led in scoring, but the hallmark at Condon was that six players contributed between 6 and 14 points.

“We were balanced due to transition,” Lingel said transition frees up other people to score. “You just run your lanes and get your layups,” he said.