Hauser’s (32) Taeshaun Tungate drives to the basket past Trinity Lutheran’s (50) Evan Hunt during a game at Hauser High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Tribune
Hauser’s (23) Cole Renner shoots against Trinity Lutheran’s Jacob Sabotin during a game at Hauser High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Tribune
Hauser’s (32) Taeshaun Tungate shoots a reverse lay-up against Trinity Lutheran’s (20) Mitchell Hackman during a game at Hauser High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Tribune
Hauser’s (23) Cole Renner shoots between Trinity Lutheran’s (20) Mitchell Hackman and (2) Jacob Conrad during a game at Hauser High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Tribune
Hauser’s (42) Koby Johnson shoots against Trinity Lutheran’s (2) Jacob Conrad during a game at Hauser High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Tribune
Hauser’s (20) Bryce Bates shoots between Trinity Lutheran’s (2) Jacob Conrad, (23) Jacob Sabotin and (5) Sage Broughton during a game at Hauser High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Tribune
Hauser (20) Bryce Bates and Trinity Lutheran (5) Sage Broughton clash at tip-off during a game at Hauser High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Tribune
Trinity Lutheran’s (5) Sage Broughton makes a move to the basket around Hauser’s (20) Bryce Bates during a game at Hauser High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Tribune
Trinity Lutheran’s (5) Sage Broughton drives to the basket past Hauser’s (20) Bryce Bates during a game at Hauser High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Tribune
HOPE — For the first third of the 2021-22 boys basketball season, Hauser has been road warriors.
Thursday night, the Jets had a chance to play at home for only the second time this season, and they made the most of it with a 47-40 win against Trinity Lutheran.
“It’s a big win,” Hauser senior Eli Miller said. “We’ve only had two home games so far this season, and being at home is so special for our fans. It’s really nice.”
Miller led the Jets (4-4) with 14 points. Koby Johnson added 13 points and 15 rebounds.
Hauser jumped out to an 18-6 lead two minutes into the second quarter. The Cougars (3-4) finished the first half on a 9-4 run to cut the lead to 22-15.
Trinity came as close as five three times in the second half, but Hauser didn’t let the Cougars get any closer.
“Our preparation wasn’t real strong,” Trinity coach Brad Dickey said. “Our warmups need to get better. We’re just still learning as we go. It’s kind of a disappointing outcome here to a good opponent.”
The Jets finished with a 31-24 rebounding advantage.
“I don’t know if we were real pretty, but I thought we were gritty tonight,” Hauser coach Brent Keck said. “I was really pleased with how we defended. I was really pleased with our rebounding effort. I thought Koby was outstanding on the backboards, and the rest of our group complemented him really well. I think that’s a real strength of Trinity’s basketball team – their ability to rebound the basketball.”
Mitchell Hackman scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the second half to lead the Cougars.
“I thought we did a real good job on (Hackman) in the first half,” Keck said. “Then, I think we kind of let him get away from us a couple times in the second half.”
Jacob Conrad and Sage Broughton each added eight points for Trinity. Bryce Bates had eight points and seven rebounds for the Jets.