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AINSWORTH — The Hay Springs Hawks ran into a boys basketball buzzsaw Monday in the form of the Wynot Blue Devils.
Wynot scored early and often en route to a huge 79-27 District championship game win over Hay Springs.
The Blue Devils raced to a huge halftime lead and then shortened the game with a running clock for most of the second half.
“We thought this would be another tough game,” Wynot coach Lee Heimes said. “We got out early and took care of our business to keep them out of it.”
Dylan Heine, who would finish with a game-high 25 points, hit from inside, outside and in the paint in the opening 16 minutes to pace the Blue Devils to the surprisingly easy verdict in the end.
“It’s fun when the ball is falling,” Heine said. “My teammates kept getting me the ball and I just kept shooting — and they went in.”
Chase Schroeder hit double figures with 10 points and Kason Koch came off the bench to add nine points for Wynot’s offense.
Gage Mintken was the one bright spot for the Hawks, finishing with 16 points on the night.
Wynot held Hay Springs to just a single field goal in the first quarter by Mintken. The Blue Devils were running on all cylinders early as Heine could not miss early, exploding for 18 first-quarter points. Zack Foxhoven hit for six points and Schroeder helped out with four points inside as Wynot raced to a 33-2 lead at the first-quarter stop.
Hay Springs found some offense in the second frame as Mintken hit a pair of 3s and Dylan Young also connected from behind the arc for the Hawks.
Wynot would keep the pressure on, thanks to two more treys by Heine and four points each from Schroeder and Joseph Sudbeck, as the Blue Devils held a 49-16 halftime lead.
“They (Hay Springs) are a good team; we just took them out of anything they were trying to accomplish,” Heimes said. “We are hopefully hitting our stride at the right time - time will tell.”
In the third quarter, the Blue Devils went on another run.
This one was a 22-10 offense burst led by six points by Kason Koch, five points by Carson and four points by Andrew Haberman, as Wynot increased its lead to 71-26, implementing the running clock for the rest of game.
Reserves mopped up in the fourth quarter with Korbin Guenther hitting a 3-pointer from the left corner and Cooper Oligmueller and Haberman each hitting a bucket, as Wynot booked its trip to Lincoln with the 79-27 win.
“It was great to get everyone into the game,” Heimes said. “Those kids have worked so hard all season and you never know when they’ll have to step up and fill a void down the road.”
That “road” consists of three more games and Wynot is poised to take a run at a boys’ title in the Class D2 State Tournament.
“We’re not going down there to just show up,” Heimes said. “We’re going down there to compete and show what we can do.”
Hay Springs 2 14 10 1 — 27 Wynot 33 16 22 8 —79 Hay Springs Wynot FG 9 32 3PT 5 7 FT 4-6 8-14 REB 17 26
SCORING
Wynot - Dylan Heine, 25; Chase Schroeder, 10; Kason Koch, 9; Zack Foxhoven, 8; Andrew Haberman, 6; Carson Wieseler, 5; Joseph Sudbeck, 4; Cooper Oligmueller, 4; Colin Wieseler, 3; Korbin Guenther, 3; Killian Steinhaus, 2. Hays Springs - Gage Mintken, 16; Hunter McDonald, 5; Dylan Young, 3; Dylan Raymer, 3.
