"We played better half court defense compared to the first two games of the year," Coach Tom Hause said of the Oriole boys win Thursday December 2 against McDonnell on the Macks home turf at Chippewa Falls.

Coming off of a losses to Wausau West and Newman Catholic in Marathon Coun – ty then, the Orioles brought it together and came back for the win last Thursday, with 68 to 53 the final score. Coach Hause predicted that the rather tall Henry Hoel would surprise some teams this year.

"Henry will surprise some teams this season," Hause shared. "He is much stronger than he was last season." As to defense, meanwhile, Brady Potaczek and Cooper Nichols came in for praise.

"Brady Potaczek and Coo – per Nichols really contained and pressured on the defensive end of the floor guarding their post and point guard respec – tively," Coach Hause said.

Moving to the broader game statistics, Senior Lucas Smith led the Oriole boys in overall points scored, racking up 20 of the final 68 against McDonnell.

Carsen Hause came in sec – ond for points scored, with 19 overall. Of the remainder, Hoel scored 13 points, Potaczek scored nine, Landen Karlen scored four, Logan Burzyns – ki scored two, and Cooper Nichols scored one.

As to the point spread be – tween halves, the second half was better than the first, with 45 points scored by the Ori – oles as opposed to 23 in the first. This allowed them to seal their win over McDon – nell last Thursday, with the Macks coming away with 15 points in the first half, and 38 in the second. Joe Janus was the top scorer for McDon – nell at 16 points, followed by Eddie Mittermeyer with 14 points. Try though they did, the Macks couldn't over – come Stanley-Boyd with the result that the Oriole boys triumphed.

The next boys varsi – ty game is Thursday night against Cadott at Cadott High School.