Henning receives top seed in competitive Section 6A

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Henning fans filled the school gym on Friday night as the orange and black faithful watched the Hornets wrap up a perfect 26-0 regular season with a 75-57 win over Underwood. The game could be a bit of a preview of Saturday’s section quarterfinals game if both the Hornets and Rockets win their playoff openers on Thursday night.

The Hornets enter the section tournament as the top ranked team in the state, but will have a tall task ahead of them if they want to repeat as the Section 6A champion and make a return to state. 

Section 6A will be one of the best sections in Class A with five teams ranked in the top 19 in the QRF standings, including top seeded and top ranked Henning at four, second seeded Pelican Rapids at one, third seeded Park Christian at 16, fourth seeded Breckenridge at 11 and fifth seeded Hillcrest Lutheran Academy at 19 in the QRF.

The top seeded Hornets will open the playoffs on Thursday against the winner of Border West and Ortonville, before taking on either ninth seeded Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa or eighth seeded Underwood on Saturday.

The Section 6A semi-finals will be held on Wednesday, March 11 in Perham with the Hornets potentially taking the court at 6 p.m. and the section finals will be held on Friday, March 13 at Concordia College in Moorhead with a tipoff of 6 p.m.

Tuesday

Tuesday’s game between the Henning Hornets and Brandon-Evansville Chargers was close—until it wasn’t as the Hornets came away with a dominating 82-55 win at home.

“Another nice crowd tonight at home. After trailing 14-8 at the 13 minute mark, our guys went on a 37-2 run at the end the half. Our bench guys handled a lot of the second half minutes to close it out,” said head coach Randy Misegades.

After that early run from the Chargers, Henning outscored Brandon-Evansville 37-8 in the final 13 minutes of the first half to lead 45-16 at the break. With the reserves playing a good portion of the second half, the Chargers were able to outscore the Hornets 39-37 in the final 18 minutes of action, but fell by a score of 82-55.

Kale Misegades led the way offensively with 34 points on just 13-18 shooting from the floor, including five 3-pointers. He also finished with six assists, six rebounds and four steals.

Todd Bjerke continued his solid stretch of games as the junior finished with 15 points, Ryan Despard scored nine, Zack Wiederich scored seven, Beck Thorson scored five, Trevor Arndt and Bradon Grabe scored three points off the bench, while Andrew Suchy and Easton Misegades rounded out the scoring with two points apiece. 

POINTS: Misegades 2, Wiederich 7, Bjerke 15, Despard 9, Thorson 5, Misegades 34, Wiirre 2, Arndt 3, Suchy 2, Grabe 3

ASSISTS: Misegades 1, Wiederich 2, Bushman 3, Bjerke 3, Despard 3, Thorson 3, Misegades 6, Arndt 1

REBOUNDS: Misegades 2, Wiederich 3, Bushman 2, Bjerke 2, Despard 2, Thorson 2, Misegades 6, Wiirre 1, Severson 2, Suchy 5

STEALS: Wiederich 3, Bjerke 1, Despard 3, Thorson 2, Misegades 4

Friday

In what could be a preview of Saturday’s Section 6A quarterfinals, the Henning Hornets capped off a perfect 26-0 regular season with a 75-57 win over the Underwood Rockets. 

“Standing room only in Henning tonight and a really fun atmosphere. Great way to finish the season as we won the C-squad, JV and Varsity games,” said head coach Randy Misegades.

The game was back-and-forth throughout much of the first half, before the Hornets went on a charge late in the first half to put themselves up by a commanding 50-25 margin at the half. The second half was a bit tighter, but Henning was able to once again get some of their reserves a bit of extra work in the closing minutes of the game as they get ready for the opening round of the playoffs this week.

“We made a really nice run to end the half to extend the lead to 25. We got some really nice minutes off the bench from Andrew Suchy and Beck Thorson tonight,” said Misegades. “A lot of credit goes to Underwood as they continued to battle and outscored us in the second half.”

The Hornets were led offensively by Kale Misegades, who registered a double-double with 23 points and 15 rebounds. He also had six assists and three steals in the win.

Todd Bjerke and Ryan Despard also reached double figures in what proved to be a balanced scoring attack. Bjerke went 6-10 from the floor, while Despard knocked down all four of his 3-pointers in the win. Beck Thorson finished a perfect 3-3 from behind the 3-point line to finish with nine points, Zack Wiederich and Dawson Bushman scored eight points and Andrew Suchy rounded out the scoring with three points.

The win sealed the top seed for the Hornets in an extremely competitive Section 6A tournament, which kicked off on Monday night. The top seeded Hornets will take on either 16th seeded Border West or 17th seeded Ortonville on Thursday night at 7 p.m. in Henning. The winner of the game will take on either eighth seeded Underwood or ninth seeded Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa on Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the high seed.

The section tournament will continue next Wednesday night in Perham with the second finals set for Friday, March 13 at Concordia College in Moorhead.

Section 6A will be one of the best sections in Class A with five teams ranked in the top 19 in the QRF standings, including top seeded and top ranked Henning at four, second seeded Pelican Rapids at one, third seeded Park Christian at 16, fourth seeded Breckenridge at 11 and fifth seeded Hillcrest Lutheran Academy at 19 in the QRF.

“Every Section 6A game is going to be a huge test. I truly feel like our section is the deepest in the state,” said Misegades.

POINTS: Wiederich 8, Bushman 8, Bjerke 12, Despard 12, Thorson 9, Misegades 23, Suchy 3

ASSISTS: Wiederich 1, Bushman 3, Bjerke 4, Thorson 2, Misegades 6

REBOUNDS: Wiederich 3, Bushman 2, Bjerke 1, Despard 2, Thorson 2, Misegades 15, Arndt 1, Severson 1, Suchy 1

STEALS: Bushman 2, Thorson 2, Misegades 3