Pipestone Area center Eric Stark won the opening tipoff, positioned himself in the paint, collected a pass from guard Jason Nettik and took the ball hard to the hoop. Stark’s shot dropped, and he was fouled, setting up a 3-point opportunity on the first play of the 2009-’10 boys basketball season.
The large opening-night crowd roared with approval, and all looked to be well with new players and a new coach on the Arrows bench.
What had started with such promise, however, quickly turned into a nightmare for the Arrows and head coach Ed Gustafson as the Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots took advantage of some opening-night jitters and tight officiating to defeat Pipestone Area, 67-48, Friday night in a non-conference basketball tilt.
“In the first half, we played so much out of control,” Gustafson said following the game. “You can’t blame the refs, but that got to us a bit – getting ourselves in foul trouble – and in the Southwest Conference we’re going to have to play a physical game, at times. That, and our mental errors, really caught up with us tonight.”
Stark (18 points, eight rebounds) managed to knock down another deuce in the early going, but quickly found himself on the bench in foul trouble and didn’t score again until the second half. PAS senior guard Shandon Jones (11 points, four rebounds) also committed two quick fouls and was riding pine after three minutes of play – leaving the Arrows in a position where they had to go to some of their younger, more inexperienced players.
The Patriots, under the guidance of gaffer Steve Wiertzema, seized the opportunity and lit up the scoreboard in a hurry.
H-BC junior Travis Helgeson (21 points, 11 rebounds) dropped in eight points over the initial five minutes of play, and teammate Andrew Scholten (16 points, seven rebounds) scored twice as the Patriots built an early 11-4 lead. A 7-3 H-BC run fueled by Scholten and Karic Wiertzema (13 points six rebounds) had the Patriots well in control with an 11-point (18-7) advantage midway through the first half.
Many of those points came off Arrow turnovers as Coach Wiertzema, sensing Pipestone Area was lacking confidence in the team it had on the floor, instructed his side to apply full-court pressure. The Arrows simply couldn’t break the press, and the Patriots went to the hoop like holiday shoppers sniffing out bargains on Black Friday.
The remainder of the half saw the Arrows continue to stumble on both ends of the court, but consecutive buckets by Michael Merrill (free throw) and Tyler Rieck (six points, four rebounds) to end the period gave the Arrows a glimmer of hope as the teams headed to the locker room at intermission.
The Arrows didn’t look much sharper to open the second half, and the Patriots extended their 27-point (42-15) halftime lead into a 34-point advantage (50-16) three minutes into the final period.
Until the Arrows started finding the range from beyond the arc, Pipestone Area fans had little to cheer about. Jones’ bomb from the left wing with 13:51 left in the contest not only brought the crowd back into the game, but also brought some belief back into the Pipestone Area players, as well.
PAS junior guard Jason Nettik followed Jones’ trey with a 3-pointer of his own, and Jones again found the mark from the wing for the Arrows’ third consecutive 3-pointer.
Stark, back in the game after sitting out nearly a half, took charge of the tilt from there, scoring 15 points sandwiched around Jones’ third trey of the contest. Van Roekel (three points, five rebounds, five assists) and Nettik (six points, three steals, five assists) were instrumental in locating the big man in the paint, and the Arrows appeared to be out of their funk.
Unfortunately for the Arrows, the deficit was too big of a gap to bridge. Helgeson and Scholten, along with help from the Patriot bench, scored enough points to quash any inkling of a Pipestone Area comeback and secured the non-conference victory with accuracy at the charity stripe.
After falling behind by so many points at the half, the Arrows could easily have hung their heads and continued to play uninspired ball. Gustafson, however, rallied his troops, and the Arrows had to go away from the contest feeling they’d put in a solid effort in the second half.
“I thought in the second half we played much better and smarter; we did some good things in the second half,” Gustafson said. “Defensively, I thought we covered where we needed to cover in the second half.
“Overall, we’re just going to have to handle the press a little better. When you come into a new situation, new coach and new players, it’s going to take some time to adjust. Hopefully, we can adjust throughout the year.”
Merrill and Devin Gorter each finished with a point for the Arrows, while Mark Abrahamson had a pair.

H-BC 42 25 – 67
Pipestone Area 15 33 – 48

B-Squad
Pipestone Area 53, H-BC 38
Blake Olsen scored 12 points to lead the PAS B-squad to victory over the Patriots Friday night in Pipestone.
Reid Schiebout and Sawyer Pals finished the night with 10 and nine points, respectively for the Arrows, while Aaron Kozlowski dropped in eight markers.
Brady Claussen posted six points, Mikey Dahl five points, and Jacob Derby finished with three.