The Jordan boys basketball team has opened the season with a split.
Senior Afton Koch led the Hubmen with 20 points in the team’s 81-77 home win versus Glencoe-Silver Lake in the season opener Dec. 1. Jordan followed up with a 74-53 road loss to New Ulm Dec. 3.
The Hubmen finished last season with a 17-9 overall record, including a 6-4 mark in their second season in the Wright County East Conference. It was the program’s first season in Class 3A.
In April of 2021, the Minnesota State High School League realigned sections for all sports, moving Jordan up a class in basketball. The Hubmen had been a Class 2A program since the inception of four-class basketball at the start of the 1997-98 school year.
Jordan lost its first-ever playoff game in Class 3A last year, falling 83-54 at Marshall in the quarterfinals.
What can be expected of the Hubmen this season with the loss of five seniors, including the team’s top three scorers?
“We will be a deep team,” Jordan coach Matt Urbanek said. “Our strength will be our guard play. We will try to use full-court defensive pressure to speed the game up and play fast.”
In the win over Glencoe-Silver Lake, the Hubmen had nine players in the scoring column. Senior Nate Kes finished with 17 points, while junior Seth Noyes was also in double figures with 11.
Junior Jack Olson, sophomore Jackson Birchem and senior Carter Runge each had six points, while juniors Seth Young and Logan Young and senior Mack Schmidt all had five.
Against New Ulm, Jordan struggled in the second half, getting outscored 48-24. Kes led the team with 16 points, while Runge finished with 15.
Olson chipped in five points, while Noyes and Schmidt both scored four. Seth Young added three points, followed by Koch, Birchem and junior Elijah Hagen each with two.
“This was a game of runs,” Urbanek said. “New Ulm started the game ahead 16-4, and we made a run to take the lead 29-28 at the half. New Ulm made another run to start the second half and we were fighting uphill the rest of the way.
“We played hard but we need to maintain a more consistent level of play throughout the game.”
Section 2AAA has one ranked team in the Class 3A preseason poll. That’s Mankato East at No. 9.
The rest of the field includes New Ulm, Marshall, Mankato West, St. Peter, Worthington and New Prague. Mankato East is the defending champion.
“Our goal is to improve steadily and play our best basketball at the end of the season going into playoffs,” Urbanek said.
This year’s Class 3A state tournament is set for March 21-25 at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus.
Jordan has made two state appearances in its history with the first one back in 2010 and the last one in 2018. The Hubmen made the Section 2AA title game in 2020, but the game was never played due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
