Hornets receive top seed in sub section tournament

 Lane Dilly rips the ball out of the hands of a Battle Lake player during Friday’s regular season finale in Henning. The Hornets won the game by a score of 74-42 to end their regular season with a record of 24-2.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

In a night full of celebrations, the fourth ranked Henning Hornets improved to 24-2 overall as they defeated visiting Battle Lake by a score of 74-42 on Friday night. The night featured a reunion, of sorts, as the Hornets celebrated 110 years of basketball in Henning, as well as the fifth anniversary of Henning’s state championship basketball team. 

Kale Misegades drives past Mason Dalluge during Friday’s non-conference win against Battle Lake.

Prior to the game, past basketball players, managers, cheerleaders and coaches were invited to the floor to join the current players and staff members to commemorate the occasion. 

In addition to celebrating 110 years of basketball, head coach Randy Misegades was honored for securing his 300th career win for Henning earlier this season. 

“Packed house tonight as we celebrated 110 years of Henning basketball, as well as the five year anniversary of our 2019 state championship. It was great to see so many alumni in the gym,” said Misegades.

Current and former Henning basketball players, coaches, managers and cheerleaders gathered prior to Friday’s basketball game on the court for a picture and to honor 110 years of basketball at Henning School.

With a standing room only crowd, which included several rows of chairs set up on the stage, Henning jumped out to an early 40-20 lead at halftime and never looked back as they came away with a 74-42 win over Battle Lake to improve to 24-2 on the season. 

The night also included a reunion for the 2019 state championship basketball team. Team members gathered at a new billboard on Highway 210 prior to Friday’s festivities for a group picture.

While the Hornets were never really in foul trouble throughout the game, one of the big differences in the game came in called fouls. Henning was called for 18 team fouls, while the Battlers was called for just 6, which also led to a big disparity at the free throw line where Battle Lake shot 17 free throws and Henning shot just 7. 

Despite the differences, the Hornets were once again spread the ball around throughout the night as they had 20 assists on 29 made shots from the field. In fact, five players scored at least 8 points as the Hornets shot 54 percent from the field. 

“We had a lot of guys hit shots early in the game tonight, which helped us get going. We did a nice job moving the ball offensively, which led to a lot of open looks. Our defensive effort was much improved tonight as well,” said Misegades.

Logan Kostelecky defends a Battle Lake player during the first half of Friday’s non-conference basketball game in Henning. 

Kale Misegades once again led the way offensively after he had a strong second half by going 10-16 from the field to finish with 25 points. Teigan Bjerke also reached double figures with 17 points and 7 assists, while Lane Dilly joined the pair in double figures with 12 points and 9 rebounds. He also had 6 assists in the win.

Noah Umland and Logan Kostelecky each hit a pair of 3-pointers to finish with 8 points apiece, while Dawson Misegades scored 4 points. 

The Hornets received the top seed in the sub section and will take on the winner of eighth seeded Frazee (7-18 on the season) and ninth seeded Lake Park-Audubon (7-19 on the season) on Thursday night in Henning. The winner of the game will head to the sub section semi-finals against either fourth seeded Park Christian (18-8 on the season) or fifth seeded Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal (14-12 on the season). That game will be held on Saturday in Perham at 1 p.m. 

Noah Umland passes the ball to Teigan Bjerke during Friday’s game against Battle Lake.

The sub section championship game will be held next Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Perham, while the Section 6A championship game will take place on Friday, March 12 at 7 p.m. in Fergus Falls. 

While the Hornets head into the Section 6A tournament on a 17 game winning streak and ranked fourth in the state, the section itself is loaded with state ranked teams across the board. In the sub section itself, Henning is ranked fourth, Hillcrest is ranked seventh and Ada-Borup West is ranked 10th. On the other side of the bracket, West Central Area is ranked third in the state, meaning four of the top 10 ranked teams in the state are from Section 6A. 

As a result, the Hornets will have their work cut out for them to even qualify for the section championship game, let along a return to the state tournament since it was canceled due to COVID-19 in 2020. 

“Section 6A is the deepest in the state. We’ll need a great effort each game to have a chance to win,” said Misegades. 

Prior to the start of Friday’s game, current players and managers joined head coach Randy Misegades on the court to celebrate his 300th win of his career earlier this season.