Henning makes fourth trip to state in past eight years

With a packed crowd going from the floor to the rafters on Friday night, Kale Misegades takes a contested lay up in the lane during the final minutes of the Section 6A championship game at Concordia College.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

There once was a time, prior to 2019, when the Henning Hornets playing in the state basketball tournament seemed like a distant memory. After having to wait 53 years for a return to state, Henning is making it a bit of an annual trip to the Twin Cities as the Hornets captured their fourth section championship in the past eight years after securing a 72-61 win over Park Christian on Friday night. 

Beck Thorson dove to the ground to collect a loose ball near the end of Friday’s game against Park Christian.

The win over the Falcons occurred just one year after the Hornets defeated West Central Area at Concordia College in Moorhead to win the section crown and 60 years after a pair of dominating Henning teams qualified for state in 1965 and 1966 in a one-class system. The 1966 Henning team defeated Crosby-Ironton in the Region 6 title at Concordia College in Moorhead to win their second straight region title to advance to the state tournament. They would go on to lose to Edina-Morningside in triple overtime in what is still considered one of the best state high school basketball games in Minnesota history. 

Kale Misegades sets a pick for Todd Bjerke to drive to the lane during Friday’s Section 6A championship game at Concordia College in Moorhead.

Following the loss in 1966, Henning would not qualify for another state tournament until the Hornets won the Section 6A title at the University of Minnesota-Morris against Parkers Prairie in 2019. They would go on to win the state championship that season and won a second straight section title, with the game also held at Concordia College in Moorhead one year later, only to have the state basketball tournament canceled the following day due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Over the past eight years the Hornets have qualified for five section title games, going 4-1 in those games with the lone loss coming in 2023 to Border West. 

The Henning students turned out in a big way on Wednesday night wearing all black for the Section 6A semi-finals game against Breckenridge in Perham. By the end of the game fans were forced to stand in the doorways as no seats or spots on the track were available.

Last season the Hornets captured fifth place at the state basketball tournament.

This season’s team has been ranked first in the state for most of the year and are a perfect 30-0 on the season. 

After winning arguably the best section in all of Class A to advance to state, the Hornets could received one of the top seeds at the Class A state basketball tournament when it kicks off on Thursday, March 26 at Target Center. The tournament will continue throughout the weekend at various sites across the Twin Cities, including Williams Arena where the 1965 and 1966 state tournaments were held.

Ryan Despard takes a contested lay up in the second half of Friday’s section championship game against Park Christian.

The seeding for the tournament will be held on Tuesday, March 17 and the state tournament schedule will be posted on the Citizen’s Advocate website as soon as it is released. 

Dawson Bushman drives to the lane during Wednesday’s section semi-final game in Breckenridge.

Tuesday

A standing room only crowd turned out for a pair of games featuring teams ranked in the top five in Class A on Wednesday night. The top ranked Henning Hornets and Breckenridge Cowboys hit the hardwood first, before the fifth ranked Pelican Rapids Vikings and Park Christian Falcons took the court in Perham. Few seats remained in the stands for the opening game of the night as the Henning fans filled well over half the stands at Perham High School, with other fans having to resort to standing on the walking track and in the doorways to catch a glimpse of the first section semi-final game of the night.

“Really exciting atmosphere in front of a jam packed crowd at Perham High School. The Hornet fans showed up in huge numbers tonight,” said head coach Randy Misegades.

Todd Bjerke, Ryan Despard and Dawson Bushman converge on a Breckenridge player in front of the student section in Perham on Wednesday night.

After Breckenridge jumped out to a double digit lead in the opening minutes of the game, the Hornets seemed to settle down a bit midway through the half and went on to take a 36-27 lead at halftime. Henning would go on to win by a score of 80-57 after frustrating the Cowboys on the defensive end of the court throughout the night. 

“After Breck smacked us in the mouth to start the game, we settled in and played much better. This was the most physical game we have played all season. The guys stuck together and found a way,” said Misegades. 

Breckenridge made several runs throughout the second half, but could never get within striking distance as Henning controlled the tempo on both the offensive and defensive end of the court by holding the Cowboys to just 38 percent shooting and just 7-26 from behind the 3-point line. 

Henning junior Zack Wiederich did his best to keep the Hornets in the game in the first half after knocking down three 3-pointers in just a matter of minutes to give the Hornets a charge, before Kale Misegades was fouled shooting a 3-pointer right before the halftime break. 

Meanwhile, Henning shot an impressive 52 percent from the floor and knocked down 12-25 shots from behind the 3-point line and started the game a perfect 16-16 from the free throw line, before one of the reserves missed a late free throw to break the perfect streak. 

As a team the Hornets had 11 assists on 26 made shots, while pulling down 25 rebounds. The Hornets turned the ball over 12 times in the game with a number of those turnovers coming in the opening minutes of action. 

Misegades was complimentary of both Perham High School for hosting the tournament, as well as the Breckenridge Cowboys who finished the season with an impressive 22-7 season after competing in a mainly Class AA conference in the Heart O’ Lakes. The Cowboys finished the season as the ninth ranked team in the QRF standings. 

“Congratulations to Breckenridge on a great season and thanks to Perham for doing a first class job of hosting Section 6A basketball. Nobody does it better,” said Misegades. 

The Hornets were led offensively by Kale Misegades who scored 37 points on just 12-19 shooting from the floor, including an impressive 4-7 from behind the 3-point line and 9-9 from the free throw line. He also led the team with five assists and finished with five rebounds.

Wiederich had one of his best offensive games of the season with 23 points on just 6-11 shooting, including 5-8 from behind the 3-point line and 6-6 from the free throw line. Ryan Despard scored seven points, Todd Bjerke scored six points and finished with a team high six rebounds, Dawson Bushman and Beck Thorson each scored three points and Easton Misegades scored one point off the bench. 

Park Christian also advanced to the section championship game against the Hornets after upsetting second seeded and fifth ranked Pelican Rapids 59-58 on a last second shot in the lane on Wednesday night. 

POINTS: Misegades 1, Wiederich 23, Bushman 3, Bjerke 6, Despard 7, Thorson 3, Misegades 37

ASSISTS: Wiederich 1, Bjerke 2, Despard 3, Misegades 5

REBOUNDS: Wiederich 2, Bushman 5, Bjerke 6, Despard 2, Thorson 4, Misegades 5, Wiirre 1

STEALS: Bushman 3, Despard 1, Thorson 1, Misegades 1

Friday

A trip to Concordia College has become a bit of an annual tradition for the Henning Hornets over the past seven years. For the third time since 2020, Henning made the trek to Concordia College to participate in the Section 6A championship and improved to a perfect 3-0 in those games with a tough 72-61 win over third seeded Park Christian on Friday night (the 2019 title game was held at the University of Minnesota-Morris and the 2023 game was played in Fergus Falls).

“We’ve been so fortunate and blessed in Henning to play in five of the last eight section 6A championship games, winning four. That says so much about the buy-in and belief from everyone involved,” said head coach Randy Misegades.

After once again coming out of the gates slow, trailing 17-9  early in the game, the Hornets were able to take a 36-30 lead at halftime thanks to a 3-pointer by Kale Misegades as time expired. After Misegades inbounded the ball, he received a quick pass and drove the length of the court to put up the long-range 3-pointer that found the bottom of the net. He finished with 21 points in the first half alone. 

Park Christian looked poised to knock off the Hornets late in the game after cutting Henning’s lead to just 59-58 with just 2:30 to go in the game, before the Hornets scored eight straight points to put the game out of reach. The Falcons would not score again until there was just 19 seconds remaining in the game and the outcome was all-but decided. 

“March is just different,” said Misegades after the game. “Playing up here is awesome and you just have to find a way. It’s not a beauty contest, just find a way to get it done.”

Free throws proved to be the difference in the game for both teams as Park Christian went just 6-16 from the line, which included a stretch of five straight misses late in the game of which three were on the front end of a bonus.  

The Hornets went 18-23 from the free throw line, including a perfect 16-16 from senior Kale Misegades who led all scorers with 39 points and 11 rebounds. 

“Points are cool and all but we just did it as a team,” the Henning senior said after the game. “We stuck together, found a way and kept fighting together.”

While Misegades led the charge offensively, the Hornets stayed in the game thanks to a well-rounded scoring effort that included 16 points from senior Ryan Despard, who went 3-5 from behind the 3-point line, as well as junior Zack Wiederich who scored eight points, Todd Bjerke who scored six points and Dawson Bushman who scored three points. Junior Beck Thorson also picked up some key minutes off the bench as the Hornets battled a bit of foul trouble during the game. 

“So proud of our guys tonight finding a way to grind out a win in the biggest game of the season,” said Misegades. “We fought back from an early deficit, but then made a nice run to extend our lead to double digits. Park Christian made the run we knew they would and cut our lead to one down the stretch. But, our guys executed on a couple possessions in big spots and made our free throws to close the game.”

Henning and Park Christian have become quite familiar with one another over the years as this is the third straight year they have met in the playoffs. The Hornets are 3-0 in those games, many of which have come down to the wire. 

“We have so much respect for Park Christian and the way they handle their program! They had a tremendous season and congrats to their team and coaching staff! They do it the right way,” said Misegades. 

With four teams ranked in the top 13 in the QRF and nine teams ranked in the top 37 in the state, whoever was able to survive a murderers row of teams to win the section title can say they earned their trip to state. In fact, 12 of the 22 teams in the section were either .500 or better, making it the deepest section in the state. 

The Hornets repeated as section champions for the first time since the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, and just the third time in school history with the other occasion coming in 1964-65 and 1965-66. Now the undefeated Hornets, who are the lone remaining undefeated team in Class A at 30-0, will need to wait an extra week to kick off the state tournament on Thursday, March 26 at Target Center. 

“We truly feel like we battled through a gauntlet to win 6A and have an opportunity to be seeded highly at the state tournament,” said Misegades. 

Seeding will take place on Tuesday, March 17 and will be posted on the Citizen’s Advocate website as soon as it is released. 

POINTS: Wiederich 8, Bushman 3, Bjerke 6, Despard 16, Misegades 39

ASSISTS: Wiederich 2, Bushman 4, Bjerke 2, Despard 1, Misegades 3

REBOUNDS: Wiederich 4, Bushman 3, Bjerke 7, Despard 6, Thorson 2, Misegades 11

STEALS: Wiederich 2, Bushman 1, Bjerke 2, Misegades 4