Teigan Bjerke goes for a layup during the Section 6A championship game on Friday at Concordia College. The Henning senior scored 12 points in Henning’s 72-51 win over the Knights.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

There may not have been more than a handful of people left in Henning on Wednesday and Friday night as the Hornet faithful filled the stands at Perham High School and Concordia College to watch as the Hornets punched their ticket to the state basketball tournament. 

Dawson Misegades picked up a key rebounds and putback during Friday’s game against West Central Area.

On Wednesday night the third ranked and third seeded Hornets defeated the sixth ranked and top seeded in the north sub section Ada-Borup West by a score of 71-69 to avenge last year’s loss in the sub section finals to the Cougars.

Two days later, the stands at Concordia College were covered in blaze orange as the Hornets completed their trek through a tough sub section and section tournament with a 72-51 win over West Central Area to advance to their first state tournament since 2020. The section championship was a rematch of the 2020 championship game that saw the Hornets advance to state, only to have the state tournament canceled due to the COVID pandemic the following day.

Henning senior Noah Umland goes up for a shot in the lane during Friday’s section championship game.

Henning will open its 2025 Class A state basketball tournament on Thursday afternoon when the fifth seeded Hornets take on the fourth seeded Nevis Tigers. The game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. at Target Center and will be a rematch of a game from Jan. 11 when Nevis defeated Henning by a score of 63-57 at the Breakdown Classic in Perham. Henning comes into the game as the third ranked team in the state with a record of 27-3 overall. Nevis is currently 26-4 on the season and is ranked fifth in the state. The Tigers defeated Upsala by a score of 80-38 in the Section 5A championship game on Friday. 

The winner of the game will take on either top seeded and top ranked Cherry, who is currently 29-1 on the season, or eighth seeded BOLD who is 20-10 on the season. Cherry is the defending state champion and advanced to state after winning the Section 7A championship. The semi-finals will be held on Friday at Williams Arena at 12 p.m. 

Eli Reinbold drives to the basket during the sub section championship game against Ada-Borup West on Wednesday night.

The two teams who lose in the opening round of the tournament will fall to the consolation bracket and will play on Friday at Concordia University in St. Paul at 12 p.m. The consolation championship is Saturday at 8 a.m. at Concordia University. 

On the other side of the bracket, Dawson-Boyd, who is 27-3 on the season and ranked second in the state, received the second seed and will take on seventh seeded Heritage Christian Academy, who is 24-5 on the season in the opening round. 

Third seeded Red Lake County, who is 29-2 on the season and ranked ninth in the state, will take on sixth seeded Goodhue, who is 22-8 on the season, in the opening round of the state tournament.  

The Class A third place game will be held on Saturday at Concordia University at 10 a.m. The championship game will be held on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. at Williams Arena.

A sea of orange could be seen from the floor as the Henning Hornets pulled away from the West Central Area Knights on Friday night at Concordia College. The Hornets defeated the West Central Area Knights 72-51 to advance to the state basketball tournament this week.

Wednesday

The third ranked and third seeded  Henning Hornets advanced to the Section 6A championship game after defeating sixth ranked and top seeded Ada-Borup West by a score of 71-69 on Wednesday night in Perham. The game was a rematch of last year’s sub section finals that show Ada-Borup West defeat the Hornets by a score of 69-55.

Logan Kostelecky sails through the air for a lay up during the second half of Friday’s Section 6A final at Concordia College. He finished with a team-high 29 points and eight rebounds.

This time around the Hornets took an early lead and held on for the tough two-point win to capture the sub section title in a match up between two teams ranked inside the top six in the state. 

“Tonight was another 36 minute battle against a talented and experienced ABW team. It was a well played game with both teams making plays all night. We were fortunate to build a small cushion before the half and held on for the win. Our guys grinded on the defensive end and got enough stops to do the job,” said head coach Randy Misegades.

Henning led 36-30 at halftime and led for much of the game thanks to a number of timely shots and a tough defense that kept the Cougars off balanced in the second half. 

Both teams shot well throughout the contest as Ada-Borup West shot 55 percent from the field, but went just 5-9 from the free throw line and hit just six 3-pointers in the game. Henning’s tough defense also forced 12 Cougar turnovers in the contest.

Kale Misegades takes a contested shot in the lane during Friday’s section finals. The junior finished with 21 points to go along with a team-high eight assists.

The Hornets shot 44 percent from the floor, but made the most of their opportunities as they turned the ball over just six times, hit 10 3-pointers and went 9-12 from the free throw line. 

Henning also moved the ball around well throughout the game as they had 18 assists on 26 made shots from the floor.

The Hornets were led offensively by Kale Misegades who scored 27 points, while hitting four 3-pointers and going a perfect 5-5 from the free throw line. Logan Kostelecky scored 18 points, while also hitting four 3-pointers in the game and Teigan Bjerke recorded a double-double as he scored 10 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.

Eli Reinbold chipped in with seven points to go along with four assists, while Ryan Despard scored five points and Noah Umland rounded out the scoring with four points. 

POINTS: Bjerke 10, Despard 5, Reinbold 7, Misegades 27, Umland 4, Kostelecky 18

ASSISTS: Bjerke 3, Despard 1, Reinbold 4, Misegades 5, Umland 4, Kostelecky 1

REBOUNDS: Bjerke 10, Despard 1, Reinbold 1, Misegades 4, Umland 5, Kostelecky 3

STEALS: Bjerke 4, Reinbold 2, Misegades 1, Umland 1, Kostelecky 2

Friday

The Henning Hornets improved to 27-3 on the season and punched their first trip to the state tournament since advancing to back-to-back state tournaments in 2019 and 2020 on Friday night with a 72-51 win over West Central Area. The state trip is just the third time the Henning basketball team has advanced to state in boys basketball since back-to-back trips in 1965 and 1966 under a one class system. 

After leading for much of the first half, Henning found itself trailing West Central Area by a score of 27-24 thanks to a late charge by the Knights. After a bit of a back and forth start to the second half, Henning took over about midway through the half and never looked back as they overwhelmed the Knights on both the offensive and defensive end of the court to come away with the 72-51 win to capture the Section 6A championship. The game was a rematch of the 2020 Section 6A championship game, which was also held at Concordia College and saw the Hornets come away with the title by a score of 57-45. 

Despite being ranked in the top five in Class A all season, currently ranked third in the state, the Hornets received just the third see in the sub section. That low seed forced the Hornets to defeat the sixth, second and top seeded teams in the north sub section, as well as the top seed in the north sub section to advance to state. 

“Great team win for our guys and a huge night for our program,” said head coach Randy Misegades. “After getting seeded third in our sub section by the coaches, we ran through the gauntlet and beat really quality teams to get back to the state tournament.”

Henning once again forced a solid opponent to be uncomfortable on the offensive end of the court as the Hornets forced 12 Knight turnovers and just 3-14 from behind the 3-point line. 

“Our guys played a phenomenal second half defensively. Logan Kostelecky led the offensive attack and Kale Misegades knocked down 8 of 8 free throws down the stretch to ice the game,” said Misegades.

The Hornets were led offensively by Kostelecky who shot and impressive 12-15 from the floor to finish with a team-high 29 points and eight rebounds. He also hit a bit 3-pointer in the second half to keep the Knights at bay. 

Kale Misegades scored 21 points to go along with a team-high eight assists. He went 10-11 from the free throw line and 5-10 from the floor. Teigan Bjerke went 5-7 from the floor to finish with 12 points, six assists and a team-high five steals in the win.

While the trio led the way offensively, Randy Misegades said the Hornets got contributions from up and down their line up on Friday night. 

“We had contributions from so many guys. Teigan Bjerke was his usual steady self. Noah Umland made a huge 3 in the second half. Dawson Misegades made a huge momentum play with an offensive rebound and put back and Eli Reinbold held WCA’s best shooter to one basket,” said Misegades. “Our bench brought tons of energy and Orange Nation showed up big time once again.”

With the win, the Hornets have advanced to the state basketball tournament where they will take on the Nevis Tigers in the opening round of the Class A tournament on Thursday at Target Center 

“We’ve earned a few more days of practice and are excited to play in Minneapolis (this) week,” said Misegades. 

POINTS: Wiederich 2, Bjerke 12, Reinbold 2, Misegades 21, Umland 4, Kostelecky 29, Misegades 2

ASSISTS: Bjerke 6, Misegades 8

REBOUNDS: Wiederich 1, Bjerke 4, Reinbold 2, Misegades 5, Umland 2, Kostelecky 8, Misegades 3

STEALS: Bjerke 5, Misegades 3