Esko uses second half to smother Barnum

The first half of last Friday's boys basketball matchup between Esko and Barnum was tight with Esko managing to stake themselves to a seven- point lead. Then Esko came out and got on an offensive roll in the second half and eventually pulled away to an 83-63 Polar League win in Barnum.

"They are a typical Barnum team," said Esko coach Derek Anderson. "They are strong, patient, physical and always well-coached and in general they are always a quality opponent."

The Bombers stayed close with Esko in the first half by shooting the ball well from the outside. Barnum hit six three-pointers in the first half, including four from freshman guard Patrick Poirier, making it 45-38 at halftime in favor of Esko.

"I thought we played well on offense in the first half," said Barnum coach Rich Newman. "We shot the ball pretty well in the first half and we competed hard."

While Poirier scored 12 first- half points for the Bombers, Esko relied on balanced scoring from numerous players. Sam Haugen led Esko in the first half with 13 points.

Things changed in the second half when Esko changed its defense and made a conscious effort to better guard Barnum's shooters, making it more difficult to score.

"We started switching up on defense and getting our hands up," Anderson said.

Barnum also ran into a scoring lull and did not score a point during an eight-minute stretch. That's when the game got away from them and Esko pulled ahead to a comfortable lead.

"Once we got down and couldn't score, that was pretty much the game," Newman said.

Esko lost eight players last season. This season they rely on a much different offensive concept than the past three years.

"We had guys who could get the rebound and go down the floor and finish the past few years," Anderson said. "This season we move the ball more and our guys look to create so that their teammates can score."

Sam Haugen led the Esko offense with 23 points and was joined in double-digit scoring by Jacion Owens with 15, Graham Hartlieb with 11 points and Brayden Male with 10. Also scoring for Esko were Jackson Peterson and Josh Synnott with 8, Hewitt Liimatainen adding 6 and Braydon McKibbon with 2 points.

"I don't think a lot of teams expect much from us this year because we lost eight seniors last year," Anderson said. "This year's group is all about sharing the ball, creating shots for their teammates, and offensively they are moving the ball really well."

The Bombers were led by Pierce Korpela's 15 points. Both Poirier and Bryce Ferguson added 12 points, Julian Beckstrand had 9, Brock Hurst 7 and Blake Axtell 5 points. Landon Bigelow scored 2 points and Brady Ferguson added 1 point.

"We like the challenge of playing good teams," Newman said. "We're good enough to play with good teams, but we just can't turn the ball over and give up easy baskets."

The loss dropped Barnum to 8-4 while the win improved the Esko record to 9-4 on the season.