Boys Basketball
The Hinckley-Finlayson boys basketball team is headed to their first-ever Minnesota State Tournament.
The Jaguars will head to Williams Arena in Minneapolis on Thursday at 1:00 pm to take on Russell-Tyler-Ruthton. The Knights from Section 3A are a tough squad, but Hinckley-Finlayson will look towards its senior leadership and depth to lead them to a first round victory.
Jaguars Recap
Hinckley-Finlayson comes in with a record of 26-4 outscoring opponents 77.4-55.8 this season. The Jags shot 48% from the field while holding opponents to just 39% shooting. They also out-rebounded teams by almost 10 per game while forcing 18.4 turnovers per contest.
Individually, the Jaguars were led by Travis Visser who scored 22.2 points per game and pulled down 12.6 rebounds. The rest of the scoring was spread out for Hinckley-Finlayson with just Anders Prator and Trevor Johnson averaging double-digit scoring this season.
The Opponent
The Jaguars opponent, the Knights, come from Russell-Tyler-Ruthton (RTR) high school. RTR is located four hours south west from Hinckley-Finlayson about 45 minutes from Brookings, South Dakota. RTR High School is a small school with only 130 students enrolled 9th-12th grade. The boys basketball team is in Section 3A and defeated Minneota 71-69 in the section championship.
R-T-R saw similar statistical domination over their opponents winning 30 of their 31 games. The Knights outscored their opponents 71-43 this season, while forcing 22 turnovers per game and shooting over 50 percent from the field.
Russell-Tyler-Ruthton spread their scoring out having four players average in double figures. Weston Kirk led the team in scoring with 18 points per game while Garrett Kern was right behind him with 15. Kern was the Knights 3-point specialist making 74 of his 210 attempts from beyond the arc.
Matchup and Broadcast Info
The matchup to watch will certainly happen in the paint on Thursday as Weston Kirk goes head to head with Travis Visser. The winner of that battle will give their team a definite advantage.
Tip-off on Thursday is scheduled for 1:00 from Williams Arena and can be heard on 100.9 FM and wcmpradio.com
