Austin Packer Boys Basketball • Heading to the Dance

Austin Packers

HEADING TO THE

DANCE

2019 The Packer boys are once again taking their game to the big stage

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2019

Anything but routine Packers have rolled this year after the loss of 4 starters from last season

By Rocky Hulne

sports@austindailyherald.com

The Packers have made a habit out of going to state basketball tournaments, playing in six of the last eight Minnesota Class AAA State Boys Basketball Tournaments, but there is nothing routine about this year’s team.

The Packers (23-5 overall) had to replace four starters who averaged a combined 46.2 points per game on last season’s team, which

took fourth in the state. They also had to look for leadership amongst a relatively inexperienced group.

It didn’t take long for senior Medi Obang, the team’s lone returning starter, to realize it was his time to attack — literally.

Obang has learned to be aggressive with his dribble as well as his jump shot this season, and he’s led a Packer team that has been more active on the drive than just about any of the Austin teams that have previously been to state in the last decade.

“I just told myself that I had to step up this year. I had to get in the gym every day.

I knew we were going to make it to state again. I just had that feeling,” Obang said.

“Last year I was mainly a spot up shooter, who played defense. This year I just changed it up and told myself to be more aggressive and I’ve tried to get my teammates more involved.”

Obang’s aggressive attitude has spread like wildfire to his teammates.

Show ‘em What You’ve Got at State!

Good Luck, Packers!

Austin’s Agwa Nywesh is fouled by Northfield’s Mason Zick on the way to the hoop in the second half of the Section 1AAA title game in Rochester’s Mayo Civic Center. Herald file photos

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Austin’s Gavin Owens turns to shoot early in the first half against Northfield.

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Agwa Nywesh, Dongrin Deng, Gavin Owens and Teyghan Hovland have all made a habit of taking the ball to the rim. Austin head coach Kris Fadness said the ability to break down the defense has paid off for an Austin team that is undersized on most nights it takes the court.

“We’ve been fearless going to the basket this year. I would guess we’ve shot less threes than we did last year, even though we’re smaller and not as physically imposing,” Fadness said. “I credit Medi and Agwa for getting to the basket. Dongrin, Gavin Owens and Teyghan can get to the basket. They keep going at the rim and that’s made us a successful offense.”

Last spring, Fadness was tinkering with the idea of bringing the man-to-man defense to his undersized Packers, but the team wasn’t able to build up a rhythm over the summer, so he opted to stick with Austin’s familiar zone defense. The Packers have answered the call with even more ball pressure on opponents in year’s past.

Fadness conceded that the Packers are not a solid rebounding team, but he credits his undersized players for putting effort on the boards. Fadness is happy to turn up the defensive pressure to cover up the rebounding weaknesses.

“I could see that we just had too far to go to be as good defensively in (man-to-man) as I thought we could be and I decided we’re

“Since (last year’s seniors) left, nobody thought we were going to be as good as we were. I took that personally and spent hours in the gym, trying to get as good as they were and slightly better.”

Agwa Nywesh going to have to stay with our zone trapping defense,” Fadness said. “Dongrin had to play low and Teyghan had to step up. Those two have really done some good things and gotten better as the year has gone on. Our strengths are speed and quickness. We’re probably extending more than we ever have.

We’re picking up full court, for the most part, and getting good ball pressure. I think we’ve been pretty successful.”

The Packers may not have been big favorites entering this season, but that only served as motivation for Nywesh, a junior.

“Since (last year’s seniors) left, nobody thought we were going to be as good as we were,” Nywesh said. “I took that personally and spent hours in the gym, trying to get as good as they were and slightly better.”

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Austin’s Medi Obang on the drive off the perimeter against Northfield in the first half of the Section 1AAA championship last Thursday night in Rochester’s Mayo Civic Center.

The Packers have overachieved this season, going on the attack both inside and outside against bigger teams.

Herald file photo

Packers survive by going on the offensive Time and time again, I’ve seen an old theory of mine proven in high school sports, and the Austin boys basketball team has done it again.

It’s easier to keep a winning program intact than it is to take a subpar program over the hump.

The Packers had every excuse to fall off into mediocrity this season — they had graduated the bulk of their team from the past two seasons and the squad was vastly undersized in the majority of its contests.

But these Packers weren’t settling for average, or even good. They’ve watched the teams ahead of them play great and they were determined to duplicate that feat.

Mission accomplished.

The Packers surprised many around the area and beyond as they not only tied for the Big Nine title for the second straight year, but they also locked down their third straight trip to the Minnesota Class AAA State Boys Basketball Tournament. Austin got here with a lot of aggressiveness and a lot of confidence.

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2019

Rocky Hulne Sports Editor

The Packers have played fearless on offense by attacking the hoop against much taller defenders throughout the year and they’ve relentlessly applied pressure on the backcourts of opponents throughout the season.

With a No. 3 seed in the state tournament and a lot of relatively new faces in the lineup, the Packers probably won’t pull in a lot of attention from casual bystanders. But that could be a good thing.

Playing under the radar could work in Austin’s favor, and if the team can stay quietly focused, it certainly has enough firepower to make a run.

Austin has already proved a lot of its doubters wrong, and a couple more wins could silence the rest of them.

2019 Minnesota State Boys Basketball Tournament Class A Thursday, March 21 At Williams Arena Quarterfinals Spring Grove (23-4) vs. No. 1 Springfield (27-2), 11 a.m.; No. 5 Christ’s Household of Faith (23-5) vs. No. 4 Henning (28-1), 1 p.m.; Cromwell-Wright (25-3) vs.

No. 2 Ada-Borup (28-1), 3 p.m.; Westbrook-Walnut Grove (23-7) vs. No. 3 North Woods (27-2), 5 p.m.

Friday, March 22 At Concordia (St. Paul) Consolation semifinals 10, noon At Target Center Championship semifinals Noon, 2 p.m.

At Target Center Championship, 11 a.m.

Class AA Wednesday, March 20 Quarterfinals At Target Center St. Peter (22-6) vs. No. 1 Minnehaha Academy (26-2), 6 p.m.; No. 5 Lake City (26-2) vs. No. 4 Melrose Area (26-4), 8 p.m.

At Williams Arena Esko (21-9) vs. No. 2 Minneapolis North (21-9), 6 p.m.

Redwood Valley (16-11) vs. No. 3 Perham (29-1), 8 p.m.

Friday, March 22 At Concordia (St. Paul) Consolation final, 2 p.m.

At Target Center Championship semifinals 6 p.m., 8 p.m.

Saturday, March 23 At Concordia (St. Paul) Third place, 12 p.m.

At Target Center

Thursday, March 21 At Target Center Championship semifinals Noon, 2 p.m.

At Concordia (St. Paul) Consolation semifinals 2 p.m., 4 p.m.

Friday, March 22 At Concordia (St. Paul) Consolation final, 4 p.m.

Saturday, March 23 At Concordia (St. Paul) Consolation final, 8 a.m.

Third place, 10 a.m.

Thursday, March 21 At Concordia (St. Paul) Consolation semifinals 6 p.m., 8 p.m.

Championship, 1 p.m.

Class AAA Wednesday, March 20 At Williams Arena Quarterfinals Bemidji (23-4) vs. No. 1 DeLaSalle (24-5), 10 a.m.; No. 5 Mahtomedi (24-5) vs. No. 4 Princeton (26-3), 12 p.m.; Holy Angels (24-4) vs. No. 2 Waseca (28-1), 2 p.m.; Monticello (14-15) vs. No. 3 Austin (23-5), 4 p.m.

Saturday, March 23 At Concordia (St. Paul) Third place, 2 p.m.

At Target Center Championship, 5 p.m.

Class AAAA Wednesday, March 20 At Target Center Quarterfinals Maple Grove (23-6) vs. No. 1 Park Center (28-1), 10 a.m.; No. 5 Lakeville North (25-4) vs. No. 4 Eden Prairie (20-9), noon; Cambridge-Isanti (17-12) vs.

No. 2 Hopkins (24-4), 2 p.m.; Eastview (18-11) vs.

No. 3 East Ridge (27-2), 4 p.m.

Thursday, March 21 At Concordia (St. Paul) Consolation semifinals 10 a.m., noon At Target Center Championship semifinals 6 p.m., 8 p.m.

Friday, March 22 At Concordia (St. Paul) Consolation final, 6 p.m.

Saturday, March 23 At Concordia (St. Paul) Third place, 4 p.m.

At Target Center Championship, 8 p.m.

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Packers face off against Monticello in first round

By Rocky Hulne

Don’t miss the action

sports@austindailyherald.com

The Packers have played in too many state tournaments in recent years to overlook an opponent, so they’re taking Monticello as seriously as they would take any other team on their schedule.

Austin, which is seeded No. 3 in the Minnesota Class AAA State Boys Basketball Tournament, will open up quarterfinal play against Monticello (14-15 overall) at 4 p.m. Wednesday in Williams Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

The Magic were seeded No. 5 in Section 5AAA, but they took down No. 4 Big Lake in the section title game after beating No. 2 Willmar 66-59 in the semifinals. Big Lake had defeated No. 1 seeded Delano, the defending state champion, in the semifinals.

“It’s going to be a dog fight. It’s going to be a good game. We have to make plays down the stretch,” Austin head coach Kris Fadness said.

The Packers don’t have a lot of players who have played in the state tournament before, but a lot of them have been around Williams Arena and Target Center in Austin’s past trips to state.

“I trust our guys and they’ve been in this environment, they’ve at least warmed up on those floors and been here before,” Fadness said.

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If you can’t make the tournament in person this year, you can still catch the games.

Television: Championship semifinals and championship games in all four classes will be televised live by 45TV. Webcast: Semifinal and championship games in all classes will be streamed free of charge by 45TV at www.prep45.com.

The quarterfinals in all classes will be streamed free of charge by School Space Media at www.prepspotlight.tv .

Game results and box scores: Posted on the League’s website at www.mshsl.org Social media: Follow Austin’s Rocky Hulne on Twitter @RockyHulneADH for up-to-date reports and Eric Johnson @ EricJohnsonADH for photos of the action.

You can also follow the tournament on the League’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @MSHSL and @MSHSLJohn.

“That should help us.”

Medi Obang played big minutes in the state tournament for Austin (23-5 overall) last season and he thinks the team is ready to go for this year’s run.

“We just have to play our game, stay level headed and listen to our coaches,” Obang said.

Austin’s Ngor Deng dishes against Northfield in the first half of the Section 1AAA championship. Deng is one of those that saw time on the state floor last year. Herald file photo

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Minnesota Class AAA State Boys Basketball Tournament

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Wednesday, March 21

Bemidji (23-4)

Thursday, March 21

10 a.m., Williams Arena No. 1 DeLaSalle (24-5)

Noon, Target Center

No. 5 Mahtomedi (24-5) Noon, Williams Arena

Championship

No. 4 Princeton (26-3) 5 p.m., Target Center

Saturday, March 23

Academy of Holy Angels (24-4) 2 p.m., Williams Arena No. 2 Waseca (28-1) 2 p.m., Target Center Monticello(14-15) 4 p.m., Williams Arena No. 3 Austin (23-5)

Consolation

All games played at Concordia University

Third Place

Concordia Unviersity

2 p.m., March 21

4 p.m., March 22

2 p.m., March 23

4 p.m., March 21

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2019

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Tournament Breakdown Austin (Section 1AAA)

Record: 23-5 Points per game: 72.6 Points allowed per game: 60.5 QRF Ranking: 3 How they get to state: Beat Northfield 57-54

Where the teams are from

Waseca (Section 2AAA)

Record: 28-1 Points per game: 83.8 Points allowed per game: 56.2 QRF Ranking: 4 How they get to state: Beat Mankato East 63-54

Mahtomedi (Section 4AAA)

Record: 24-5 Points per game: 78.3 Points allowed per game: 59.5 QRF Ranking: 5 How they get to state: Totino-Grace 58-49

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Record: 14-15 Points per game: 65.9 Points allowed per game: 62.9 QRF Ranking: 24 How they get to state: Beat Big Lake 56-54

DeLaSalle (Section 6AAA)

Record: 24-5 Points per game: 78.4 Points allowed per game: 54.2 QRF Ranking: 1 How they get to state: Beat Waconia 78-63

Bemidji

Academy of Holy Angels (Section 3AAA)

Record: 24-4 Points per game: 76.6 Points allowed per game: 62.1 QRF Ranking: 12 How they get to state: Beat St. Thomas Academy 85-78

Monticello (Section 5AAA)

Princeton (Section 7AAA) Monticello

Princeton Mahtomedi Minneapolis

DeLaSalle Academy of Holy Angels Waseca

Austin

Record: 26-3 Points per game: 84.8 Points allowed per game: 64.6 QRF Ranking: 6 How they get to state: Beat Hibbing 91-76

Bemidji (Section 8AAA)

Record: 23-4 Points per game: 67.4 Points allowed per game: 57.3 QRF Ranking: 7 How they get to state: Beat Sartell-St. Stephen 67-55

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2019

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Making a big impression

By Rocky Hulne

sports@austindailyherald.com

Austin senior LaHenry Gills is usually the shortest player on the court, but that has never entered his mind when he’s attacked the paint with relentless fury, attacked a guard with extreme intensity or pulled up for a three-pointer over a much taller defender.

Gills, who stands at 5-feet, 6-inches tall, has served as a lightning quick, smooth shooting option off the bench for the statebound Packers and he’s not done making plays yet.

“LaHenry is our fire,” Austin senior Agwa Nywesh said. “When we need to get going, he’s there. He can just turn us on at any time.”

Gills has given the Packers a huge boost many times this season - including a big regular season win at Rochester John Marshall, where he knocked down three three-pointers in the first half of a Section 1AAA semifinal win over Red Wing, where he scored 15 points off the bench.

Gills started playing basketball in fifth grade after Kathy Owens, the mother of teammate Gavin Owens, asked him to start playing. Ever since then, he’s been humbling bigger players on the court while building up his confidence.

“I started working on my game more, I started developing my game and I started loving the game,” Gills said of his youth. “I was always the shortest guy on the team. It doesn’t really phase me. In my head, I think there’s no such thing as short. Just play hard all the time and play your game.”

Gills had to spend a lot of time on the varsity bench last year as the Packers had a deep roster that limited him to mop-up time. This year he’s worked hard to make his minutes count, especially when the Packers need a scoring punch.

“I react off the starting five. If they have energy, I’m going to come in with energy and

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2019

LaHenry Gills may not be the biggest player on the court, but he more than makes up for it with pure tenacity. Herald file photo just keep pushing everybody to play well,” Gills said. “I get to show what I have on the court and play hard all of the time. We have a good group of guys with good communication. I’m excited to show them what I can do (at state) and what I’m made of.”

Austin head coach Kris Fadness said that Gills can lift Austin’s offense to new heights

on the nights when his shot is falling.

“In the games where he’s played well, it’s taken us to a different level,” Fadness said.

“He’s going to be offensive minded, he’s going to take it to the basket and he plays a lot bigger than his size. He has great skill ability, he’s very passionate about the game and he’s a good player.”

“LaHenry is our fire.

When we need to get going, he’s there.”

Agwa Nywesh

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Learning the finer points of the game Moses Idris getting to know the intricacies of the game of basketball

By Rocky Hulne

sports@austindailyherald.com

Austin junior Moses Idris certainly looks like a basketball player, but it’s only been in recent years that he’s learning what it means to become one for the Austin was Packers.

Idris, a 6-foot, 3-inch forward, was fine with just playing pick-up basketball at the YMCA as a middle schooler, when his classmate and current teammate Agwa Nywesh began lobbying for him to play for the Packers. Idris considered playing organized basketball as a seventh-grader, and he finally made his commitment to the sport in eighth grade.

Since then, his head has been spinning as he’s tried learning the finer nuances of the game.

“My friends were always pushing me to play,” Idris said. “I’ve learned a lot from the coaches over the past few years. (Assistant coach) Jamaal (Gibson) Moses coached me in eighth and ninth grade and he taught me a lot.”

It was Gibson who showed Idris game film of Austin grad Nyagoa Obany, last year’s starting center, and told Idris that he needed to emulate what Obany did last season. Idris has since shifted his focus from being a scorer, to being a physical player who can make a big impact away from the ball.

“I kind of molded my game after Nyagoa,” Idris said. “I had to come in and play great

defense, while hitting the boards a lot. I had to change my game from last year and set more ball screens.”

Austin head coach Kris Fadness said that Idris and fellow junior Ogur Gari were both hurt by limited practice time this season.

Both players have begun to flourish in the gym over the past two weeks with more time to work on the smaller things.

“In the last two weeks of practice we’ve been seeing Moses and Ogur just coming and getting better,” Fadness said. “It would’ve been nice to have that time earlier in the year to see where they could be at right now. Moses is raw and he’s been blessed with physical tools that I would’ve loved to have had. He’s learned, but the hard part for him is understanding that organized basketball is different than pick-up ball.”

Nywesh said that he’s glad Idris decided to play basketball after some encouragement four years ago.

Idris “He was bigger than everybody else and I knew we needed another person to play on our team,” Nywesh said. “Moses fell in love with the game.

He’s an amazing teammate and you can tell he’s playing his heart out.”

Now after just four years of learning how to play for the Packers, Idris will be representing Austin on the biggest stage of all. He’s ready for the challenge.

“I’m very excited to show what I can do for the team and show how I can play,” Idris said.

“I had to come in and play great defense, while hitting the boards a lot. I had to change my game from last year and set more ball screens.”

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Austin’s Moses Idris battles inside against Northfield in the first half of the Section 1AAA championship Thursday night in Rochester’s Mayo Civic Center. Herald file photo

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2019

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Austin’s Ngor Deng with an eye to the hoop in the first half against Mankato East in Feburary.

Herald file photos

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games that defined a season

These contests were just the tip of the iceberg for Austin’s 2018-19 campaign

Dec. 18: Austin 70, Rochester John Marshall 59

Austin’s Teyghan Hovland with the runner in the lane against Northfield in the first half of the Section 1AAA championship.

The Packers proved early on in the season that they were a force to be reckoned with by winning in a tough place to play against a tough team.

Medi Obang paced the Packers with 20 points in the win.

Jan. 1: Austin 70, Northfield 64

The Packers didn’t back down on a night where it was tough to get rebounds as they held off the Raiders in Packer Gym. Agwa Nywesh proved he was more than just a scorer as he finished with 14 points, five rebounds, six assists and five steals.

The win gave the Packers an inside track on the No. 1 seed in Section 1AAA.

Feb. 14: Austin 71, Mankato East 59

The Packers showed that they can share the wealth as seven players scored at least six points in the win over the Cougars.

Gavin Owens, Ngor Deng and Nywesh all scored 11 in the win.

Feb. 22: Austin 63, St. Thomas Academy 60

Even though they were in a brutal stretch where they had to play 10 games in 14 days, the Packers showed their competitive edge in a non-conference game on the road.

Austin trailed by 13 points at halftime, but it battled back to win the game. Obang, who had 16 points, hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 30 seconds left.

Dongrin Deng had 14 points, nine re-

bounds and three steals for Austin.

March 14: Austin 57, Northfield 54

The Packers had just enough defense to

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come through with the state berth clinching win as Teyghan Hovland blocked a late threepoint attempt by the Raiders with just five seconds left.

Nywesh finished with 15 points and Obang had 14 points for the Packers, who have now ended Northfield’s season in three straight years.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2019

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