Walking into the record books: Hayfield freshman hits 10 threes in win over LP
Published 9:41 pm Thursday, December 12, 2024
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
HAYFIELD – Hayfield freshman Charlie Walker put himself in some good company as he caught fire in the second half and shot the Vikings to an 81-63 win over Lyle-Pacelli in Hayfield Thursday night.
Walker nailed six second half three-pointers en route to scoring 34 points and tying Hayfield’s all-time record for threes in a game with 10. Walker’s mark tied him with Bobbie Stephens, a 2011 Hayfield grad.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep tonight because I’m so excited,” Walker said. “After I made the first shot of the second half, I knew I was going to catch fire and I was going to keep shooting. The mindset Mr. Pack gives me is that the next one is going to go in.”
Hayfield head coach Chris Pack acknowledges that he has a young squad this year and he hopes Walker’s shooting display gives him and the squad some confidence moving forward.
“It’s one thing to be a role player as a freshman, but to come in and be the point guard right now with Rylan (Nelsen) out right now, that’s another thing,” Pack said. “We knew he was going to be one of our top scorers this year. We just played two really good teams and he had a couple rough nights and I told him those things are going to happen when you’re a freshman. The thing about Charlie is whether he makes or misses five in a row, he’s going to keep shooting. He has a lot of confidence.”
Hayfield (1-3 overall) opened the game on an 8-3 run and LP was never able to tie or take the lead. The closest the Athletics got was within 55-50 when Hunter Wollenburg hit a second half three, but Hayfield took over down the stretch.
Hayfield junior Austin Dahle controlled the paint as he piled up 18 points and 14 rebounds.
“I try to use my size as best as I can,” Dahle said. “If I had the chance, I was going to try and score, if not, I would get it out to Charlie or any other shooter. Our goal as a team is to become one and play together.”
LP (0-3 overall) was led by Landon Meyer, who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. The Athletics have a very inexperienced squad that got even younger with senior Dylan Christianson out for the season with an injury.
“Going in I had a gameplan, but now we’ve got kids playing without a lot of varsity experience,” LP head coach Carl Truckenmiller said. “Some of these kids aren’t used to the physical style of varsity basketball yet. We’ve got to figure it out, because teams are going to box and one Landon and try to take him away.”
LP 31 32 – 63
Hayfield 41 40 – 81
Hayfield scoring: Charlie Walker, 34; Austin Dahle, 18; Axel Meek, 11; Layne Nelson, 7; Moneer Mohamed, 7; Drew Slaathaug, 2; Nolan Pack, 2
LP scoring: Landon Meyer, 18; James Schulte, 16; Hunter Wollenburg, 8; Noah Medgaarden, 7; Yong Achuoth, 6; Grayson Bickler, 3; Logyn Brooks, 3; Colton Burma, 2