These Bulldogs Brought To You By

I saw Hope Academy and Hudson earlier in the week.  Then there's tonight's holiday makeup date between Hill-Murray and Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity.  That got my mind rolling (scary).  We often see preview articles that include 1 thing from each of the 26 letters of the alphabet.  With that and my youth recalling Sesame Street in mind ...  This Post Is Brought To You By The Letter H.

Prologue
H is for hypothermia.  Coldest night of the year for the long trek.  All the cold weather gear in use.  BRRR!
H is for hardwood.  In this case that means hardwood bleachers.  Very rare these days to see old wooden bleachers with gaps where things can fall thru.  Had 1 fan's phone go thru but it survived.
H is for hog dog.  Well of course, what else would be on my concessions menu.  I do a rare mid-week Pepsi as well.
H is for honor.  Lester Prairie's Evan Lee was honored this week at a school ceremony for his acceptance into West Point. 
H is for Hail The Pioneers.  That's the Hill-Murray school song posted on the wall.

Game Time
H is for Hiccups.  LP/HT turning it over early on leading to Pioneers points.  12-6 Hill-Murray outside of the 11 minute mark of the 1st half.
H is for High/Low.  LP/HT not making anything from the outside in the 1st half.  But they were able to effective get high low action against the Hill-Murray 2-3 all night.  Alex Heimerl with a 2nd bucket as he scores diving to the rim and getting the feed from the short corner.  Classic zone offense theory shown there.
H is for Harrison. That's forward Dexter Harrison.  He scores 3 bunnies late to keep Lester Prairie close.
H is for Halftime.  29-23 Hill-Murray at the break.  Kenny Larmie 2 free throws and a late bucket to keep the margin for Hill-Murray.  No shots falling for Lester Prairie.
H is for Heating Up.  Lester Prairie opens the 2nd half on an 11-4 run.  Heimerl off more high low action, Zach Jackson with 5 points and a Harrison putback in that run.  1st LP/HT lead of the night is 34-33 as we approach 13 minutes left.
H is for Halt that momentum.  Junior Max Yanz and Soph Sam Yanz both Hill-Murray starters.  Max with a bucket to break the LP/HT run, then Sam with 3 straight Hill-Murray hoops.  Nice variety with a putback, a short floater in the lane and then a nice cut vs a LP/HT zone.  Hill-Murray reclaims the lead by 6, 43-37 with 8 minutes left.
H is for Heavy Hitter.  That's LP/HT leading scorer Evan Lee.  He finds Heimerl for a layup on a nice dump down penetrating the zone.  Lee then adds 2 free throws to tie the game at 43 with 4:51 left.  Then the teams trade triples before Hill-Murray bonus free throws with 2:18 left.  Those will be the last Hill-Murray points.  Lee to Heimerl for the go ahead 3 from the left corner with 2 minutes left.  Hill-Murray turnover and Lee finds Jackson for a dagger 3 with under 1:45 left.  That puts the Bulldogs up 6.  Hill-Murray squanders a missed front end and a couple of LP/HT turnovers.  Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity wins 55-48.  The Bulldogs outscore Hill-Murray 18-5 over the last 8 minutes.

Post Game
H is for Hill-Murray.  The Pioneers fall to 4-16 overall.  They've now lost 13 of their last 14.  3 of the last 5 losses have been by7 points or less.  That's progress at least.  The Pioneers are off until at trip to Hastings next Tuesday.  Such a marvelous coincidence that it too has the letter H..  Max Yanz leads Hill-Murray with 13 points.  Joe Schoenecker adds 9, Kenny Larmie 8.  I found it interesting that out of their 2-3 high Humpty Dumpty look (that's the Johnny Orr, Dana Altman, Brad Underwood 2-3 high stuff, Al McGuire called it Humpty Dumpty), they got the 2nd cutter curling to the rim for many good looks.

H is for Holy Trinity/Lester Prairie.  The Bulldogs improve to 14-9 overall.  They host a big MCAA showdown with Spectrum tomorrow.  Its the final conference game for both.  Spectrum has run the table so far at 13-0 and clinched the league title.  LP/HT is currently tied for 2nd with Legacy and would assure at least a tie for that 2nd spot with a win.  Alex Heimerl leads the Bulldogs with 14 points.  That included the late go ahead triple.  Forward Dexter Harrison very productive off the bench with 9 of his 11 points in the 1st half.  3 others with 9 points for Lester Prairie.