Hawks break out brooms

SULLY — Lynnville-Sully boys basketball coach Nick Harthoorn couldn’t have asked for a better start to the 2008-09 season. The Hawks had three players score in double-figures as Lynnville-Sully rolled to a 72-35 season-opening victory over Tri-County on Tuesday night. Danny Zegers led L-S with 15 points while Nick Beyer collected 12 points. Zach Stafford was also in double-figures with 11 as 11 different players scored in the win. “It was fun to watch the guys play so well together,” said Harthoorn. “They really shot the ball well tonight. I was pleased with the effort and intensity of each player.” Lynnville-Sully jumped to a quick 12-2 lead in the first quarter but used the 3-point shot in the second quarter to blow the game wide open. The Hawks made four 3-pointers in a span of 81 seconds — two from Beyer and one each from Zegers and Stafford — to build a 30-8 lead. “It wasn’t a big strength for us last year,” said Harthoorn about his team shooting 9-of-20 on 3-pointers. “The guys have put in a lot of time over the summer, and I feel like they’re going to shoot it a lot better from behind the arc.” The Hawks held a 39-14 halftime lead and continued to pour it on with an 8-0 run to start the second half. For Harthoorn, it was hard to find negatives from a season-opening game like this. His team did a lot of things right — 37-16 rebounding advantage, 19 bench points and shot 53 percent as a team. “There are always things to work on — getting through screens at certain spots, keeping guys out of the paint, protecting the lane and rebounding,” said Harthoorn. “We can always continue to work on those things, but there were a lot of positives.” Now off to a solid 1-0 start, Lynnville-Sully travels to Iowa Valley Friday night. Iowa Valley was a 46-32 loser to BGM to open the season. Tuesay’s win was a good start for the Hawks. “For our first game, it went really well,” said Harthoorn. “A lot of guys feel good about how they played and it’s always good to have that confidence built up.”