The Jordan boys basketball team scored nearly 100 points in its final game of 2021 — a 96-74 home win over Belle Plaine on Dec. 21.
Will the Hubmen continue to get up and down the floor in the New Year, with hopes of making a run in a tough Section 2AAA field come March?
Ashton Sivilay scored 31 points in the victory over Belle Plaine.
“We shared the ball very well and we had contributions from a lot of players,” Hubmen coach Matt Urbanek said. “This was a nice win for us going into the break.”
Jordan (4-2 overall) went into the game off back-to-back losses in which its offense was held in check. The Hubmen fell 71-59 at home to Blake Dec. 17 and lost 65-59 at New Prague Dec. 14.
In Jordan’s four wins, the team averaged 84.7 points per game. Sivilay is off to a great offensive start, leading the Hubmen with 29.0 points per game, including 42 in a 78-72 win over Glencoe-Silver Lake in the season opener back on Dec. 2.
Seniors Owen Montreuil and Issac Young are also averaging in double figures for the Hubmen through six games with 15.0 and 11.3 points, respectively.
Against Belle Plaine, Jordan scored 64 points in the first half and led by 21. Montreuil finished with 17 points, while Young scored 16.
Junior Afton Koch chipped in eight points for the Hubmen, while junior Mack Schmidt scored six.
In the loss to Blake, it was a 29-29 game at the break before the Bears took over in the second half. Sivilay led Jordan in defeat with 25 points, including making five 3-pointers.
Montreuil ended up with 14 points, while Young scored 11 and senior Aiden Langheim chipped in five.
“This was a hard-fought game between two good teams,” Urbanek said. “We were right there with them most of the game, but Blake made more plays down the stretch and we had a hard time scoring in the last few minutes of the game.”
Against New Prague, Sivilay drained five more 3-pointers and scored 27 points. Montreuil was also in double figures with 12 points, while Young scored five.
Aiden Langheim, Koch and Schmidt each scored four points.
“This (game) was a tale of two halves,” Urbanek said. “We didn’t move the ball very well in the first half and we didn’t have much rhythm or flow on offense. We moved the ball better in the second half and we brought better energy on both ends of the floor in the second half.
“We can use this as a learning opportunity, as we need to play consistent basketball with high energy to give ourselves a chance to win,” Urbanek added.
Consistency on both ends of the floor will be needed if Jordan is going to be competitive come playoff time. Last spring, the Minnesota State High School League reclassified sections for all sports and the Hubmen were moved up a class to 3A.
Jordan had been in Class 2A since the inception of four-class basketball at the start of the 1997-98 school year.
The Section 2AAA field is tough with the likes of Mankato East, Mankato West, Marshall, New Prague, New Ulm, St. Peter and Worthington.
Jordan has won two section titles in program history — the first in 2010 and the latest in 2018. The Hubmen made the Section 2AA title game in 2020, but the game was never played due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
