Hauser’s Koby Johnson shoots against Trinity Lutheran’s Jacob Conrad during a game at Hauser High School.
Tommy Walker | For The RepublicHOPE — For the first third of the 2021-22 boys basketball season, Hauser has been road warriors.
Thursday night, the Jets had a chance to play at home for only the second time this season, and they made the most of it with a 47-40 win against Trinity Lutheran.
“It’s a big win,” Hauser senior Eli Miller said. “We’ve only had two home games so far this season, and being at home is so special for our fans. It’s really nice.”
Miller led the Jets (4-4) with 14 points. Koby Johnson added 13 points and 15 rebounds.
Hauser jumped out to an 18-6 lead two minutes into the second quarter. The Cougars (3-4) finished the first half on a 9-4 run to cut the lead to 22-15.
Trinity came as close as five three times in the second half, but Hauser didn’t let the Cougars get any closer.
“Our preparation wasn’t real strong,” Trinity coach Brad Dickey said. “Our warmups need to get better. We’re just still learning as we go. It’s kind of a disappointing outcome here to a good opponent.”
The Jets finished with a 31-24 rebounding advantage.
“I don’t know if we were real pretty, but I thought we were gritty tonight,” Hauser coach Brent Keck said. “I was really pleased with how we defended. I was really pleased with our rebounding effort. I thought Koby was outstanding on the backboards, and the rest of our group complemented him really well. I think that’s a real strength of Trinity’s basketball team – their ability to rebound the basketball.”
Mitchell Hackman scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the second half to lead the Cougars.
“I thought we did a real good job on (Hackman) in the first half,” Keck said. “Then, I think we kind of let him get away from us a couple times in the second half.”
Jacob Conrad and Sage Broughton each added eight points for Trinity. Bryce Bates had eight points and seven rebounds for the Jets.
“It was a team effort,” Miller said. “Everybody scored. Everybody played hard. What really set us apart was our effort.”
“I think we played pretty good team basketball,” Johnson added. “We have some freshmen that are making some freshman mistakes, but they’ll just grow from it and become pretty good basketball players. They already are really good.”
Hauser started two freshmen and played two other freshmen.
“We just have to keep working and try to improve,” Keck said. “Our freshmen are still finding their way. I think the biggest challenge for us this next quarter of the season is getting some consistency in our play, and sometimes when you’re a young team, it’s hard to find that. But that’s our goal moving forward.”
