Chaska held off a furious second-half comeback to beat rival Waconia 91-84 on Thursday night, extending their winning streak to 11 games and claiming the top spot in the Metro West Conference standings.
The old adage is “when two rivals meet, you can throw their records out the window,” but when those two rivals are both undefeated in the conference and battling for first place, you can throw that adage out the window as well.
Behind a first-half explosion from their underclassmen and clutch plays down the stretch from their veteran leadership, the Hawks held off rival Waconia 91-84 on Thursday night at Chaska High School to take sole possession of first place in the conference standings.
The victory, combined with their win over Benilde-St. Margaret’s earlier in the week, extended Chaska’s winning streak to 11 games—an impressive run made even more remarkable by the absence of junior captain Kalin Jochum, who has been sidelined with an injury. The Hawks moved to 14-4 overall in the season and now find themselves knocking on the door of a top ten Class 4A ranking.
The Hawks’ youth led the way in the first half. Freshman Jed Keenan was on fire, knocking down four three-pointers and scoring 16 points in the frame. Sophomore Chase Maetzold also had a hot hand, adding nine points as the Hawks built a commanding lead.
Chaska stretched their advantage to as many as 23 points, leading 40-17 at one point before the Wildcats cut into the deficit. The Hawks led 44-28 at the half.
“The main key for our early lead was our defense,” Chaska coach Nick Hayes said. “I thought we rotated on defense really well and rebounded their early misses. That defensive energy led to Jed getting some early threes to drop, which opened up drives for Tyler.”
But Waconia, showing why they came in undefeated in conference play, wasn’t going quietly.
The Wildcats came out blazing in the second half. Senior Will Kirsch, one of the best players in the metro, hit three three-pointers early in the frame, while senior forward Luke Hill scored a handful of tough buckets in the paint. The Wildcats, who once trailed by 23, stormed all the way back to tie the game.
Kirsch finished with a game-high 37 points in a spectacular performance.
“We made it a point the last few days to guard #13 in their ball-screens, and force tough passes out of it and contest any shots they get. But he’s a great player – Waconia is never out of the game with Kirsch on the floor,” Hayes said.
“During their early run in the second half, we just reminded our guys to get back to our defensive fundamentals and force them to play in the half court and take contested shots,” Hayes added. “They hit some tough ones, but we needed to do a better job of eliminating paint touches and rebounding their misses.”
Enter senior captain Marquis Connell.
One of the Hawks’ top energy players all season, Connell sparked a crucial run with several great defensive plays and a couple of clutch baskets on offense. The senior captain, who Hayes credited with being the key to the Hawks’ win, delivered when his team needed him most.
“Marquis was awesome tonight, but he has had that same energy and coachability since he’s been in our program,” Hayes said. “He shows up every single day to practice ready to work and that’s why he was voted captain by his peers. It was so fun to see him get some tough buckets late in the game today, but it was more than deserved because of his daily habits and leadership he gives to our team.”
Junior captain Tyler Forrest also came through in the clutch, as he has all season. Forrest scored 13 of his 21 points in the second half, making key baskets when the Hawks needed them most. Senior Matthew Welter came up big in the paint as well, scoring eight crucial points down the stretch.
“Key plays down the stretch were ‘Quis’s drive and dump off pass to Matthew for a layup,” Hayes said. “Tyler keeping us organized on offense and getting us spaced out for driving lanes, and some big rebounds from Tyler and Matthew. Eli also did a great job on defense being in the right spot and forcing them to play more in the half court.”
Jed Keenan led all Hawks with 23 points on the night, followed by Forrest’s 21. Junior Eli Herzog added 13 and Connell scored 10 to go along with his high-energy defense.
The Hawks survived a furious Waconia rally and a brilliant performance from Kirsch to claim sole possession of first place in the Metro West Conference. With 11 straight wins and their sights set on a conference championship, the Hawks rolled into Monday’s rivalry game with Chanhassen, themselves the winners of five straight Metro West conference games.
