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It is finished. The season has ended for the NS boys, and in probably the craziest fashion anyone could imagine.
NS as you probably know, has struggled this season. The team ended with a record of 2-7, with six of those losses by four points or less.
“[The team] struggled at times at putting away close games,” head coach Cris Hoopes said. “I think it got into our heads a little bit.”
The Hawk’s last game was a tiebreaker against Juab to decide who got into state. It went into overtime, and almost into double overtime, before Juab banked in a last-second half-court heave to win, 60-57.
“We put ourselves in a bad situation and didn’t play well early,” Hoopes said. “We didn’t execute on certain things late in the game and it cost us.”
NS missed free throws late in the game that could have potentially sealed the victory.
Despite this, the team actually played quite well, with the scoring divided fairly even among the players. Players Dakota Anderson, Jake Hadley and Trey Sorensen all stepped up late to keep the game alive.
Although everyone on the team is disappointed on how the season turned out, they felt that overall they played well, and had a few things gone differently for the Hawks, they could have had a much better record.
“If you put yourself in a bad situation, bad things happen,” Hoopes said.
NS did show that they could compete with anyone. Richfield, who had previously beaten the Hawks by 17, was defeated by NS February 5 by seven. This, as well as the Hawk’s quadruple overtime loss to region champion Canyon View, proved that they could hold their own.
“We had a great group of kids who could compete with anybody,” Hoopes said.
NS will have to do a bit of rebuilding in the coming years, as they will be losing six seniors next year.
Starting the year with a dominant preseason then doing almost a complete 180 and finishing with a losing record in region is tough for anyone, but Hoopes thought they played hard and gave it their all.
“It’s heartbreaking for me as a coach,” Hoopes said. “I felt like they deserved to be playing in the state tournament, and accomplish more of their goals.”
