ESKO — There is something to be said for players who can produce efficiently while doing it with a little extra finesse and elegance.
With just over 10 minutes left in regulation of Esko’s Jan. 31 game against Moose Lake/Willow River, Esko’s Sam Haugen pulled off a behind-the-back crossover, watched his defender stumble and fall, then buried a 3-pointer.
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It was a moment that sent the home crowd at near-capacity into a frenzy, while simultaneously reminding everyone in the gym that Haugen is Esko’s go-to guy when the offense gets bogged down and they need a bucket.
“He’s our scorer,” Esko head coach Derek Anderson said. “He’s very explosive, and a lot of teams around here know that, which is why he gets a lot of defenders looking at him quite a bit every night.”
Whether Haugen, a senior, draws the opposition’s best defender or not, he always finds a way to produce, often in dramatic fashion. Whether it’s catching lobs off the glass, hitting stepback 3-pointers or making the extraordinary look easy, Haugen does it all.
“We’ve talked this year about how that attention will open up his teammates as well,” Anderson said. “But if we really need a bucket, he’s our go-to guy, and that’s his role. He’s done a very good job with it this year.”
Haugen poured in a game-high 20 points in Esko’s 79-51 victory against Moose Lake/Willow River on Friday night. Jackson Peterson tallied 15 points while Josh Synnott chipped in 10 to round out Esko’s players in double figures.
Esko eventually pulled away, but Moose Lake/Willow River managed to have the game tied, 16-16, with under eight minutes to play in the first half. The Rebels had essentially neutralized Haugen for 10 minutes, but it didn’t last much longer.
“We came out and we battled,” Moose Lake/Willow River head coach Paul Dewey said. “Then we started letting Haugen get the ball and he started killing us, basically.”
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Haugen got hot late in the first half and it continued in the opening minutes of the second stanza, as a once-gridlocked game quickly turned into a 51-31 Esko advantage with just under a dozen minutes to play in regulation.
Moose Lake/Willow River tried faceguarding Haugen and sending additional help, but nothing proved to be effective. Dewey said when Haugen gets going, there is not much anyone can do to slow him down.
“He can hit from the outside consistently, and he will take it to the hole on you,” Dewey said. “We tried to faceguard him and not let him get the ball, because that’s the only thing we could do. When he gets the ball, he just scores.”
Anderson said Haugen is an efficient scorer in just about every facet of the game, but he truly shines in transition. Elite athleticism paired with a knack for scoring makes him a nightmare in open spare for opposing teams on any given night.
“He can fly around,” Anderson said. “He and a lot of our other guys can get up and down the court and do a very good job with it. This group does a tremendous job of pushing the tempo and understanding that when it’s not there, we’ve got to set up the offense.”
Haugen’s development has given Anderson and Esko’s faithful fans confidence heading into a stretch of the year that will show them where the team sits in the larger Section 7AA landscape.
Esko will face a tough St. Cloud Cathedral program on Saturday, Feb. 1, before squaring off with Pequot Lakes — the program that has ended Esko’s season in the Section 7AA title game three straight years — on Tuesday, Feb. 4.
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“We’ve talked about how this is a really tough stretch,” Anderson said. “We’ve got to be able to play a lot of different styles of basketball in a short amount of time. Pequot is a game we’re well aware of, and we’re looking forward to it.”
Throughout the season, Anderson has preached the importance of playing consistent, smart and selfless basketball night in, night out. Spending months on fundamentals is something he believes will help Esko win big games — regular season or playoffs.
“We’ve talked about learning how to win big games and doing the same thing every single night,” Anderson said. “That way when we face a really good team, we don’t panic. This group has really bought into that. I’m happy with where we’re at right now.”
Esko has won six of its last seven contests and will see a Pequot Lakes team that has won eight of its last nine games. It’s a collision that is almost certainly a playoff preview and in Anderson’s eyes, it’s a litmus test.
“I think it’s going to tell us areas we still need to work on and improve,” Anderson said. “This will kind of tell us where we stack up with a team that we will probably see further down the road.”
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