Soaring to New Heights

Prologue
We complete the weekly trip around compass as it time to point to the west metro.  The top 2 in the Wright County East division get together as Mound-Westonka visits Orono.  Mound-Westonka won the 1st meeting at home by 7 points.

Game Time
Orono going with a smaller and younger lineup than expected.  That has senior bigs Connor Chappell and Andrew Mandel coming off the bench.  This one starts slow.  Charlie Herder with inside hoops and then he lays in a feed off a turnover.  9 all at the 11:30 mark. Jason Spaeth for 3 and then he runs out for a layup off a blocked shot.  Jack Eberhart off the bench for Mound adds his 3rd triple of the night.  23-12 Mound after a 16-3 run that includes 4 triples.  Soph Isaiah Hagen one of the 2 sophomore starters for Orono on this night.  He sandwiches pairs of free throws around a bucket on a turnover.  That brings Orono back within 28-25 late in the half.  Mound-Westonka takes a 35-29 lead to halftime.

Orono can't get any offense going in the 2nd half. It takes them 5 minutes to break the ice.  A turnover leads to a Orono technical during that run as frustration is boiling.  No answers for the Mound 2-3 zone.  Mandel is the one to get the 1st hoop as he provides some good interior minutes in this stretch.  Spaeth and Jack Linder with triples as the Whitehawks push that lead to 52-37 with 5:37 left.  6 points for Orono in the 1st 12 minutes of the half.  Sebastian Loder with a bucket and triple off a pair of Mound turnovers allows Orono to get back to 56-48 with 2:09 left.  The turnovers stop coming and 6 of 8 free throws seal it.  Mound-Westonka sweeps the season series with a 64-56 win.

Post Game
Orono falls to 6-4 overall, 6-3 in the Wright County East.  That puts them 3rd thanks to a loss earlier this week at Waconia.  Soph wing Isaiah Hagen with 16 points to top the Spartans scorers.  Leading scorer Graham Beltrand adds 12.  Connor Chappell with only 2 off the bench in limited minutes.  3 buckets in 12 minutes to start the 2nd half decides the game.  Orono is at STMA on Tuesday before a trip to Hutchinson next Friday.

Mound-Westonka wins their 8th straight game after losing their 1st 2 games in the non-conference part of the schedule.  At 8-0, they now have a commanding 3 game lead in the conference standings.  Something wild would have to happen for them to not take home the league crown.  That would be a very pleasant sight for a program that until recently had a long down stretch.  Charlie Herder cleaning up inside with 19 points to lead all scorers.  PG Santi Phommahaxay with 16 points and a very nice floor game.  Phommahaxay and Jason Spaeth (11 pts tonight) didn't play in the South St. Paul loss on opening weekend.  You can really see the difference those 2 make in generating offense.  The Whitehawks now have to deal with 2 of the best players in the league.  They host Hutchinson and Sam Rensch on Monday followed by a trip to Delano with Trey Longstreet on Friday.

Four Factors

FACTOR	Orono	Mound-Westonka
Effective FG %	40%	49%
Offensive Rebound %	30.6%	42.1%
Free Throw Rate	42%	38.5%
Turnover %	22.4%	29%
Points Per Possession	0.84	0.93

The overall numbers in this one fairly close.  Big difference in 3s as Orono goes 2 of 10 vs 9 of 26 for Mound-Westonka.  That puts the Whitehawks over the top in the EFG.  Czar's law now 70-14 for the season.  5 late turnovers for Mound break a turnvoer tie in favor of Orono.  Orono had a 10-1 edge in FTM made in the 1st half.  The late FTs Mound got from Orono having to foul couldn't over come that.