Cagers kick Park, Edina gives them first loss

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The Raider boys basketball team kept feeding off its pressure defense to easily dispose of Park Cottage Grove at home, but it wasn’t enough to propel them past a tall, balanced Edina team on the road.

Hudson beat Park 74-49, and the death knell for the visitors was the third quarter; Hudson came out of the break and outscored them 23-5.

Hudson was led by Nate Roeder with 16 points and Mark Van Den Broeke and Seth Stanchik with 14 each. Ben Gresmer made his presence felt on the offensive end, chipping in 12. Jordan Vitek had two three-pointers and a pair of regular baskets.

The Raiders won handily despite being outshot at the foul line two to 11.

In an eight-point loss to Edina, Roeder put together a nice game and had 30, Gresmer added 10, Vitek eight, and Van Den Broeke and Stanchik six each. The latter two fouled out.

This time, Hudson was 10-of-17 from the free-throw line. Swavely said that Edina had a well-balanced attack, starting with a 6-foot-9 post player and a good tandem of guards.

“They made ten threes to our eight, and seven of them came from one of their guards,” Swavely said. “It will be interesting to see the way their season goes.” He noted that Edina is probably the best team Hudson has played so far.

“We had the lead at the six-minute mark in the second half. We knew it would be nip and tuck, back and forth, with one team hitting a shot and the other following,” Swavely said.

Edina hit some free throws in the late-going to go up by four, and Hudson basically ran out of time to catch up. “If we would play them ten times, we’d probably split with them,” Swavely said, adding that in this case, there were few mistakes by either team.

“I’m really happy about where we’re at defensively. We pressured their guards all over, and their other players too, all the way through the game,” Swavely said. “That puts the other team in a stressful situation.”

The Hudson defense has been creating offense by thievery in the passing lanes, producing a transition game with high percentage shots.

Eau Claire North, the Big Rivers Conference favorite, comes to Hudson for a big Thursday evening game (Jan. 8). “Last year they beat us three times, but our guys feel that we have an opportunity to beat them on our home court. I will be disappointed if we don’t win. We have the mindset that we will.”

The Raiders also travel to Chippewa Falls next Tuesday, Jan. 13.

“They are working well together, and I’m proud of where they’re at,” Swavely said. “They’re continuing to get things together and have to keep on improving. In practice, we have to work on some detail things.”

Tags: sports, hudson, boys, basketball, raiders