Huskies win 2 of first 3

Pawhuska’s boys basketball team got off to a generally positive start, winning two of its first three games. The Huskies opened their season with a 74-33 win over Wesleyan Christian on Nov. 27, dropped a decision on the road to Pawnee by a score of 61-51 last Friday and defeated Hominy by a count of 61-43 on Saturday.

As the Journal-Capital went to press Tuesday, the Huskies were scheduled to play a home game against Woodland.

Third-year head man Jake Christenson said Pawhuska lost two seniors from last year’s squad but figures to have plenty of talent to put on the floor this season.

“We have a really, really good junior class and a big freshman class,” Christenson said. He explained there are 11 freshman boys and seven juniors. He has two really good sophomores, and one senior who currently isn’t seeing playing time, he said.

Christenson said he is dressing out 15 players. That includes seven juniors, six freshmen and two sophomores. He has one post player in Isaiah Walker and the rest are guards who rotate in and out of play. The style of play figures to be quick, with a pretty fair amount of three-point shooting.

“We had six different guys hit threes,” Christenson said in the aftermath of the Wesleyan Christian game. On defense, Pawhuska started the season doing a lot of pressing.

“We try to get out and run,” Christenson said. “We want as many possessions as we can have in that game.”

The coach said he intends to use his whole roster and attempt to keep fresh legs in the game.

“We played them all last night,” he said of the Wesleyan Christian game. “We played all 15 of them.”

Christenson credits the strength and stamina of his players to the workout program that football head coach Matt Hennesy has been running for Pawhuska’s athletes.

“It’s changing them,” Christenson said. “They go and lift at 7:15 every morning.”

Pawhuska is scheduled for tournament play at the end of this week.