ABOVE: Granada-Huntley East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther's Bryce Borkenhagen draws contact on his was to the basket in a noncoference basketball game against Windom in Sherburn Friday night.

TRUMAN – A tight man defense proved to be problematic for the Granada-Huntley East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther Jaguars on Friday in a 94-66 loss to the Windom Eagles in a nonconference boys basketball game.

The Jaguars were able to break through and score, but scoring 18 points in the first half proved too much to come back from.

“It’s a pretty good basketball team that’s getting a lot better over the course of the season from where they were to now,” said Jaguars head coach Brian Borkenhagen. “But, I mean, we’ve got to come out and be able to execute some things against that high-pressure man.

That’s the first time we’ve really seen a high-pressure man like that all season – that in depth

where they’re willing to take so many chances. When we were getting into the basket in the

first half, we weren’t scoring it. We didn’t hit a lot of shots in the first half. But second half, we came alive there and cut that deficit. We scored 48 in the second half compared to [18] in the first half. That’s a big difference.”

Leading the Jaguars was Jackson Madsen with 19 points, while Brody Grathwohl had 15 points. Eli Jensen had 9 points, while Bryce Borkenhagen had 6 points. Alex Benck had 6 points, while Ethan Jaskulke had 4 points.

The Eagles opened the scoring by showcasing the team’s outside shooting, with Charles Erickson draining a shot from well beyond the arc. The bucket kicked off a quick 5-0 run for the Eagles that required an immediate response from the Jaguars. Grathwohl was the first to answer the call, hitting a 3-pointer for the Jaguars that started a 5-0 run to tie things up.

All level, Windom swung the momentum in its favor with a bucket from Carter Rossow that got the offense rolling again. That quickly turned into a 12-0 run that gave the Eagles a 17-5 lead. It was clear that the game was going to be a physical affair, with every shot in the paint heavily contested. Hastad got the Jaguars rolling again but the man defense of Windom was overwhelming the Jaguars’ shooters.

The Eagles continued to run up the lead with a 14-0 run that extended the lead to 31-7. There was 5:25 left on the clock when Grathwohl hit a floater that reopened the scoring for the Jaguars. The Jaguars continued to try and battle back into contention for the lead, but in the final stretch of the half, Windom hit five 3-pointers that locked in a 55-18 lead at the buzzer.

The Jaguars came out of the locker room fired up and quickly managed to find the mark from range. This time it was a shot from Bryce Borkenhagen that opened the scoring for the Jags in the second half. The Jaguars found a rhythm and were able to slow Windom’s scoring, successfully shutting down cutters through the lane while contesting every shot from behind the arc. Offensively the Jaguars began to anticipate the collapse in the lane and quick fake passes out to the perimeter were successful in creating space inside for the Jaguars to capitalize on. Unfortunately, the damage was done, and though the Jaguars were able to cut into the lead and more than double their first-half point total, the clock became a major factor with the score being 73-43. The Jaguars didn’t throw in the towel on the game, though, and in the final stretch Jensen, Jaskulke, Reagan Emmert, and Eilliot Flohrs were all able to drain buckets before the final buzzer sounded.

Now sitting at 10-13 overall and 6-6 in conference play, the Jaguars will host Cedar Mountain for a 7:30 p.m. game on Tuesday.