Huskies fall at state

Eau Claire North gave Tosa East all it could handle in Thursday's WIAA Division 1 quarterfinal. The Huskies just didn't have quite enough, though, falling 50-38.

Sorry for the lack of halftime update. With deadline creeping up on me, I got a head start on my article.

North did almost everything it needed to do to win -- other than get a couple more shots to fall. Were it not for a slightly slow start from the field from Evan Anderson and Tyler Brown, who knows what happens.

Either way, the Huskies represented the area quite well in the Division 1 field. I think they surprised a few folks by hanging with the Red Raiders.

“I don’t think we get enough credit up in our part of Wisconsin,” Brown said. “But I think we came out and played a pretty tough game. Towards the end of the game, they kind of made a run. That’s why they were able to win by a large margin. But I was happy with the way we played and how we played with them.”

And the quote of the night comes -- not surprisingly -- from Huskies coach Pat Hammond:

“We’ve gotten nothing but better throughout the year. Sometimes we don’t get a lot of credit up north. … Our kids are pretty good players. They’re no cakewalks. Maybe we caught them by surprise, I don’t know. You get north of Madison sometimes and they figure we just have snowmobiles up there. My kids are good kids. I always tell them I’d go to war with them anytime. Our goal is to play 32 minutes and leave it on the floor. We’re not bad. We’re pretty good.”

North loses six seniors to graduation, including both starting guards in Paul Hahn and Brian Hundt. Also gone will be top reserves James Moist and Mark Joswiak.

The Huskies' imposing frontcourt of Anderson, Brown and Andy Kleist returns, so if some guards emerge to complement the big guys, look out. North should be the team to beat once again in the Big Rivers Conference.

- Joe Ziemer