(Harlan) The Harlan Cyclones are 7-0 and ranked #2 in Class 3A according to the Associated Press.
Defense and rebounding have fueled Harlan’s quick start. Head coach Mitch Osborn says, “We’ve had some struggles offensively a couple of times in stretches. That’s one thing we have to work on, but I think our man-to-man defense has been real solid and we’ve done a nice job on the boards so we’ve been pleased. Offensively we have good balance and guys are spreading the ball out and making the extra pass. We have to continue to improve and are looking forward to Christmas break because we have some great scrimmages coming up and good practices to get us prepped for Lewis Central. We are right in the meat of our schedule with Lewis Central, St. Albert, and Atlantic so we are getting ready to roll right after Christmas.”
Coming up this week they’ll meet three quality programs in scrimmages, starting with AHSTW. “We played them in summer league and they kicked the tar out of us. They are an outstanding team regardless of class. They are very balanced, high scoring, high octane, and play very well together. We have them on Thursday. Then Friday we have Carroll and Treynor. Two outstanding teams. Usually we just do one, but with this group our JV is doing a good job, but we just can’t simulate size and quickness. A couple of good scrimmages two days in a row is going to probably be better than practice.”
Three varsity regulars returned from last year’s 9-12 team with Brad Curren, Connor Frame, and Aidan Hall. Others that have stepped up include Jacob Birch, Teagon Kasperbauer, Franz Reisz, Brayton Schechinger, and Jace Gubbels. “Very pleased with everybody and how they are doing. Sharing the basketball has been a key, no doubt. We had probably too much one-on-one play last year and not enough making the extra pass, but they grew and matured and are stronger and quicker and are coming off a state title in football and got a lot of confidence there, so it’s been a great start.”
Birch leads the Cyclones in scoring at 17.7 point per game. He’s put in the time and it’s paying off. Birch made 10,000 3-pointers over the summer and is shooting 52.9% beyond the arc. “Jacob has worked as hard as anybody.” Osborn says, “Nobody puts in more time than him and Brad Curren’s improvement at point guard makes it very, very, very tough on opponents. Jacob can go inside and out. That’s the key. We can post him up if they put a smaller guy on him, put a bigger guy on him and we’ll put him outside so he’s very versatile.”
Harlan’s next game is Tuesday, January 4th against Lewis Central. We’ll have the contest on KSOM. The Cyclones are one of only three remaining undefeated teams in Class 3A.
Harlan coach Mitch Osborn:
