It was a strong and spirited start to the season for the Two Harbors Boys Basketball team. Traveling to Chisholm on November 29, the Agates gave the Bluestreaks the blues and opened their year with early momentum and a confident road win.
“When we were down there, we were down a couple guys due to injury and illness. A couple of our bigger guys,” said Head Coach Bill Anderson. “So honestly, I didn’t know what to expect.”
There are eight seniors on the roster this year, and Anderson described the age discrepancy as the most he’s seen so far, stating, “We’re a mixture. We got some young guys we’re going to count on and we got some older guys we’re going to count on.”
The Agates counted on everybody in Chisholm, rotating in all 14 players on the game-day roster.
“Everybody got a chance to play,” said Anderson. “That doesn’t always happen, but it’s nice when it does.”
The team came out strong, but Chisholm countered quickly. Anderson reported that the score was tied 15–15 at one point before the Agates settled in, locking down defensively and heading into halftime with a 40–25 lead.
“We were struggling a little bit in the rebounding department and I think once we made a conscious effort to clean that up our defense was fantastic,” said Anderson. “Both our full-court pressure and our half-court man-to-man, I thought the guys did a really nice job applying pressure.”
That energy came with a few whistles along the way.
“It’s a fine line between being aggressive and being overly aggressive,” explained the coach. “We had to kind of drop back into a straight man in the second-half but we continued to pull away. We came out in the second half and pushed it to 20 points right away and then it just continued to build.”
The game ended 79–46 with the big scorers of the evening being senior Jace Gomez with 23 points and sophomore Ziggy Hietala with 20.
“We had good balance. We had a lot of guys with six or seven points,” reported Anderson. “When you get five or six guys with six or seven points, that adds up pretty quickly. We shot the ball well.”
Shooting was a major focus throughout the offseason, and the team’s work showed.
“It’s a hardworking group,” said the coach. “They put a lot of time in. The guys are always asking if we can get the gym open. There’s definitely some hard workers here and their efforts in the weight room and putting in extra time certainly showed in the first game.”
Strong leadership complements that work ethic. This year’s four senior captains are Gomez, Noah Mecklin, Cooper Nelson, and Tommy DeChantal.
“They’re all wonderful kids,” said Anderson. “Carter Nelson is another one that might as well be considered a captain. He’s another senior. A great kid, great leader.”
The Agates hosted their home opener on December 4 against Duluth Marshall. Ahead, they’ll travel to Mesabi East on December 9 before returning home to face Deer River on December 11. On December 13, the team will take on Carlton/Wrenshall at Target Center on the Timberwolves’ court, an opportunity the program tries to give each class at least once during their high school careers.
“They work with high school teams to get games down there,” explained Anderson. “We try to do it every three or four years.”
All players in grades 9–12 will make the trip, and each ticket purchased includes admission to one of six Timberwolves games, turning it into a memorable day for families as well.
“So, for $35 you get to not only see our game, but you get to see an NBA game, which most of the families take advantage of and do,” said Anderson.
The coach has high hopes for the season.
“The potential is very much there with these guys,” he said. “They’ve just got to keep working hard on and off the court and keep involved in our community, which we try to push. Hopefully it’s going to be a fun year.”
Congratulations to the Agates Boys Basketball Team for the big win on their season opener! Best of luck to you as you head into December.
